Winter Hostage Pt I & II
by ninja.armadillo
Summary: She's the Winter Soldier's next mission, her technology could alter the course of humanity and provide Hydra with a horrific power that could give rise to a mutant race ruled by a leader too powerful to overcome. But between the clashes of SHIELD and Hydra, college student Sophie Carson has an effect on her mysterious kidnapper, who begins to consider whose side he's really on.
1. Chapter 1: Silence

**1\. Silence - Sophie  
**

His eyes follow me as I move across the room and sit down on a stool in the corner. In all this time, two weeks, he'd said nothing. I couldn't help but hold my breath in front of him, anything that broke the silence felt strange. I pluck up the courage to speak, his nonchalance was beginning to get on my nerves.

"What do you want from me?"

No response.

"All the others told me that they wanted to help the people. That by using me, they would free them. But that's not how it works is it? You want to trap the people in fear. You criminals think you can take the freedom from people, to control them like puppets and make them conform to your dictatorship-like ideals-"

Before I could react, he had managed to stand up, cross the room and walk to me. We stood face to face, I take a step back. His eyes are startlingly bright, a shade of blue that seemed too kind to be part of a man like him. I stand my ground and try to hold my gaze. I almost hear words in the sigh that issues from him moments later. But he steps around me and disappears from the room.

There was something different about this kidnapper. He scared me, but he'd never laid a hand on me. I'd been hit for speaking up at all previously, those men thought they could beat the protests out of me until I was too spent to talk. Maybe I'd have died in that warehouse in Croatia if S.H.E.I.L.D hadn't managed to save me. But it wasn't like this man was any different either, he had taken me from everything and everyone I knew and intended to bring me to Hydra. The thought of what Hydra could do with the RgX chilled me to my core. I wanted Fury and the others to find me before that, if they didn't, millions of people would die.

And him. The Winter Soldier. What did he intend to do? If he was only a device of Hydra, there would be no trace of humanity on him. There was more to him and I could sense the uncertainty in him. Perhaps, he was fighting against more than Hydra's enemies. Or perhaps the silence had made me seek meaning in nothing.

Against every protest in my mind I follow his path out of the room. I hear ruffling in the room down the hall. Just as I reach out to push the door, the ruffling stops and I hear foot-steps to the door. He opens the door.

He's shirtless, the left side of his torso catches my eye first. Large scars ran across his chest, deepening at the junction where a bionic arm attached to his body. Without thinking my hand reached out to touch the strange and unimaginably large sutures. Before my hand made contact or I realised what I was doing, his metal hand caught mine and pulled it away. I winced at the sudden-ness of his movements and the strong grip of the steel. He immediately lets go and steps back. Even the adrenaline coursing through my veins couldn't make me move. It took a moment for me to realise the pain in my wrist. I look down to see bruises blossoming on the back of my hand and arm already. I finally manage to get my body to turn, I begin to walk away and am stopped by his other hand on my shoulder which was the complete opposite to the other, warmth and skin. He quickly reaches for my hand but I instinctively recoil. This time, slowly and delicately he reaches for and takes my bruised hand in his and inspects it closely. He disappears into the other room and returns with a compression bandage which he begins to wrap around my wrist.

My face stays expressionless as the man in front of me, someone who had forcibly taken me from my home and had kept me in solitude and away from all human contact for months, wraps my hand in a bandage after having bruised it. When he releases my hand I open my mouth as if I had something to say but he returns to his room and closes the door without looking at me.

Returning to my room, I contemplate what to do next. My hand throbbed a little as I ran my fingers over the bandage. The door was unlocked and wide open but I knew there was no point in running from someone who anticipates my move before I think to make it. If I stayed here, it could only be a week at most before we reached Hydra's base. Think dammit! Millions of lives were on the line.


	2. Chapter 2: Completion

**2\. Completion**

"Sophie! You're going to be late to your lecture again!" I hear Lucy yell from downstairs  
"Coming, coming…" I mumble, dragging myself out of bed and towards my best friend's annoyed shouts.

I'd stayed up working on the genesis algorithm again. It was a longer process than I thought, trying to translate electrical impulses into a numerical code. Fury won't get off my case until I finish it. I just needed one more night.

"You look like shit." Lucy scowls as I manage to make it to the door  
"Good morning to you too." I grab a piece of toast and my bag  
"Why don't you take more care of yourself?! Dammit, you've got a target on your head and yet you're even more chilled out than you usually are."  
"This algorithm's got me beat, Fury wants it done by next week so I've had to pull all-nighters okay."  
"Why are you putting yourself through this?" Lucy pauses on the sidewalk  
"Because this is going to help people, Lucy, I need to finish the RgX so…"  
"So that the Avengers can use it? Then what's the difference between them and any other criminal?"  
"No it's not like that, I- I don't know." I shrug, defeated  
"Go back home and finish it off then." Lucy stops again  
"What?"  
"Go finish the algorithm, I'll take today's notes and send them to you. But you have to promise me that once you're finished that you'll take care of yourself again."  
"Lucy…" I snap out of my tired stupor  
"No questions. Go now." Lucy pulls my head to her chest and hugs me before running to the train station ahead leaving me on the sidewalk.

I walk back home in astonishment clutching the golden locket on my neck as I think. What had I ever done to deserve a friend like Lucy? She read me better than anyone else and exuded more sass than my mother. She was one of those people who only accepted gestures of gratitude in the form of action and change. So I had to finish this algorithm.

Well I did complete it. Even if it did take another twelve hours. I stare at the RgX, now programmed with the genesis algorithm. I'd tested it out several times and it seemed to work, much to my surprise. I call Lucy a few minutes later, who simply said: "Thank heavens, well done. Now get some god-damned sleep you crazy scientist" and I didn't object, I slump into my bed and fall asleep almost as soon as my head hits the pillow.


	3. Chapter 3: Headquarters

**3\. Headquarters**

Travelling to the Avengers' HQ seemed to become an increasingly bland affair, the tinted cars, the extensive identification processes. I'd never met the Avengers, all I saw were the scientists who wanted to know everything there was to know about my technology. I saw Nick Fury of course, and each time he would ask me what I intended to do with the RgX and I'd give him the same answer.

"Congratulations on finishing your algorithm and completing the RgX" Fury says with the slightest smirk of approval  
"Thanks, I can finally be a college student again" I sigh  
"Now that it's complete, what are you going to do?"  
"Make sure it doesn't fall into the wrong hands."  
"Why don't we use it here at HQ, it could change everything." Fury presses  
"I don't want this used yet. I didn't realise what this technology could do when I was creating it. I could not comprehend the immense power it has. I'm still trying to figure out everything the RgX is capable of."  
"If you hand it to us, we can find that out. We have the resources."  
"I don't trust anyone with this yet."  
"Have we not saved millions of people?"  
"I'm not disputing that. But there's always going to be other leaks and I can't allow the RgX to fall into Hydra's hands." I state firmly.

Nick lets out a frustrated sigh, I could tell he was getting more and more impatient with my stubborn-ness. I stretch, my locket clinks on my neck.

"We can't leave such a powerful technology in your hands or it will be stolen. You need to hand the RgX to SHIELD." Nick stares at me  
"Look, I'm ready to hand you the RgX."  
"We will store it securely. Where is it?" Fury sounds surprised  
"Here." I pull the cylindrical machine out of my hand-bag and roll it to Fury across the table where he catches it delicately  
"This is the RgX?" Fury looks entranced by the silver metal  
"Yes."  
"Has the genesis algorithm been programmed into it?" Fury asks  
"Yes."  
"How does it open the RgX?" Fury frowns  
"In a way that I don't think anyone else has programmed. But the genesis algorithm stays with me, Nick." I fold my arms, I hear Fury let out an angry scoff.  
"Always conditions with you, isn't it? Why don't you just join SHIELD? It's better for you here than in the public where anyone can find you."  
"Aside from this project, I'm just a college student doing my thing. My family needs me." I sigh  
"Consider it. You remember how close a call it was in Croatia, it's a miracle we got to you before it was too late." Nick probes, I shudder at the memory of Croatia, remembering the warehouse, remembering the pain  
"I need to get home now, class starts in an hour." I gather my bag and jacket and stand to leave.  
"Consider it." Fury opens the door for me and I feel his stare linger on my back as I exit the conference room.


	4. Chapter 4: Target

**4\. Target**

"Her name is Sophie Carson, she will be your next mission. However, this will not be an assassination, the girl is to be taken hostage. She must be kept alive, she is the key to the RgX. Do you understand, soldier?" Pierce stares into my eyes and searches for my allegiance  
"Yes." I reply plainly  
"Good. You're to begin tonight. Hail Hydra." Pierce leaves the lab flanked by his henchmen.

I stare at the photo of Sophie Carson. She was in her early twenties and currently studied Medicine. By the time I reached her she would be returning home from her final lecture of the day, there was a decent opportunity to separate her from the crowd and take her on her way from her local train station to her house. Having been used to assassinations from afar to control political events, it puzzled me that Hydra wanted her alive. It strikes me that Hydra did not know how to activate the RgX, it was probable that they didn't understand its functions completely either. Either way, Sophie Carson was to be brought to Hydra's headquarters in Russia before the next month ended, that gave me four weeks. More than enough time.


	5. Chapter 5: Home

**5\. Home**

I wrote my notes mindlessly throughout the day. The conversation with Fury replayed in my mind on an endless loop. The more stubborn I was about facing decisions on the RgX technology, the more risk I was putting people in. But if I just joined SHIELD and gave them my technology and left my life here… what would happen? I didn't trust anyone with the RgX, I couldn't, it is too powerful in the wrong hands.

I step off the train and saunter home on auto-pilot fiddling with the gold locket on my neck. As I turn into my street, I hear footsteps behind me. Before I can register the image of the person behind me after I turn, I feel a pressure on my neck and everything turns black as I slip into unconsciousness.

 _EDIT: To be continued, when I get on to finishing the rest of it! :)_


	6. Chapter 6: Luck

**6\. Luck - Sophie**

My heavy eyelids strain themselves to open and take in the scene before me. I lay on a couch, the room around me almost seemed like a hotel or motor lodge, the lights were dim and set a yellow hue to the room. The panic sets in soon after I sit upright. I bolt to the wooden door across the room, adrenaline searing through my veins. Thump. My hand stops inches from the door handle, a large silver arm holds the edge of the door to the frame, I look up to see a tall figure in black blocking my way out. Not even a wince finds its way out of my mouth as I step back from the approaching figure. How long had I been unconscious? Where the hell were we? My hand flies to my neck, the familiar clink of my locket isn't enough to comfort me. As the figure corners me I try to think of any way I can get out of the room, I had no idea what this guy was capable of, if he was anything like those agents in Croatia, there was no way I could allow him to land a hit on me or I'd be out.

In a quick motion I run past his arm and sprint to the door, to my disbelief he's already there and again my hand stops inches from the door, I pull out my Taser. This time a gasp escapes me as the figure flicks the Taser from my hand, hoists me over his shoulder and carries me back to the couch. How the hell did he move that fast? Panic and dread wash over me. He steps back slowly and sits on a stool across from me.

"Who are you?" I muster some breath to speak

Silence. The suspended light hangs between us. His eyes stay on me the whole time. It was almost as if he could see the cogs turning in my mind trying to find a way out, a way to contact SHIELD.

"The Pepper Spray." His voice causes me to jolt slightly, reluctantly I lift the can from my pocket and slide it to him. Hand to hand and close range combat would be useless against him. He stands and walks toward me, I search for another opportunity to escape. I feel his hand around the side of my neck, he turns me to expose the right side of my neck and collarbone, my face is buried in his neck. Was this it? Was this the end? What would happen? I feel a sharp localised sting in my neck, he holds my body to his in an almost… comforting way. The pain stops and I feel gauze and tape being applied to my neck.

He then steps back to his stool and sits down. I feel my neck, there's a small solid chip under my skin. He'd set a tracker on me. This was more meticulous than the agents from Croatia. This guy meant business but he hadn't killed me yet, what if he knew about the RgX? What if he was an agent for Hydra?! I'd barely made it out the last time, when would my luck run out?

Shit.


	7. Chapter 7: Stalemate

**7\. Stalemate – Fury**

"What the hell do you mean she's lost?" I press on the bridge of my nose, I could feel another headache coming on. How could I have let her out in public just like that?! I slam the telephone down slightly harder than I should have. I alert Steve and Tony. I'd need their help on this mission, it was turning into a bigger issue than I had anticipated. Thor was in today as well, I figured it would be appropriate to let him know too. As I wait for the three Avengers to arrive, I think of Sophie Carson, but more than that, I think of who it could be that kidnapped her.

* * *

"If Hydra gets their hands on the RgX, the world's going to go to shit. Before this even happens we need to get her back here."  
"What is this R G X?" Thor's perplexed voice issues from the door,  
"The RgX: it draws from solar energy and uses UV radiation to regenerate or repair organisms, UV radiation when harnessed and converted will cause the organism's active X chromosome to develop the Rg gene that allows them to regenerate and repair." I explain staring at the holographic image of the RgX.  
"So once genetically altered, it could be passed through generations?" Thor asks  
"Great observation. Why did it not cross your mind to inform us about such a crucial technology? And what are we doing about it?" my eyes flick to Stark who oozes sarcasm  
"I thought we had the RgX?" Steve asks  
"We do. But it's useless without the genesis algorithm… Which only…" I sigh  
"Only she can solve? Perfect, look, I don't like the situation but she's pretty clever, like she anticipated this." Stark exclaims  
"She knows not to put all her eggs in one basket, but she's the key to the RgX, and if Hydra has her." Steve stares at me, "We're at a stalemate."  
"That's right Capt. Considering Romanov, Bruce and Clint are out on a mission and Thor has been summoned home by Odin, doesn't leave us with the whole team. We have the disadvantage." I scratch my beard.  
"I am hurt that you think we're not good enough. Honestly, give me the tech and let me solve the algorithm, shouldn't take long to figure out a college girl's programming patterns." Stark rolls his eyes.

* * *

"I was wrong." Stark pushes back on his swivel chair and massages his temples, "This kid's done something weird. I don't think it's been done by anyone before, anywhere."

"So we can't crack it." I mumble  
"Now I didn't say that we can't." Stark walks into his living room where I sit looking over the city, "I'm just saying that what I think she's done is somehow… convert electrical impulses into a code that registers as an algorithm. The pattern isn't actually difficult. But the code it follows is nothing like the world has seen." He sighs, "I can crack it, but I need her… head." Tony narrows his eyes when he sees my eyebrow rise. "I mean like her mind- her… her memories, they're what activates the RgX."


	8. Chapter 8: Reality

**8\. Reality - Sophie**

My eyes open only to be blinded momentarily by white light. I recoil slightly and squint to focus. We're no longer in the lodge room with the yellow light. The room is relatively small but the large windows overlook a sea surrounded in white sand beaches. This _had_ to be a fucking dream.

My eyes notice movement in my periphery, and there he is: my captor. My eyes widen and I reach to my neck for my locket and the bandage, under the gauze I could still feel the solidity of the chip. My eyes stay on him as he rises and walks toward the door where two bulky military rifles leaned almost casually on the door. Would he kill me now? How did we get here? How far were we from New York?

He tosses a khaki coloured kind of body suit onto the bed. I immediately look down at myself and realise that I only had my underwear on. Frantically clutching at the sheets I grab the clothing, to my frustration, a sharp gasp escapes my mouth.

My hands fumble with the back zipper on the damned suit. Of course it had to be stuck. But it was good, the longer it took, the more time I had to figure out what the hell I had to do next. How could I contact Fury and the others? Maybe I could yell for help once we were outside…

Before I can finish my train of thought, I feel a presence behind me and I knew it was him.


	9. Chapter 9: Reality

**9\. Reality - James**

She awakens and rises, the sheets I had pulled over her the night before slide down as she tries to register her surroundings. Her eyes fill with anxious apprehension when they fall on me. Not being one to back down from anything, I continue to stare at her waiting for her to avert her eyes. To my surprise, she does not. Walking to the guns I latch them onto my back, she looks me in the eyes as if to ask if I was going to shoot her, her eyebrows furrowing and her hands trying to grip the sheets close to her subtly. I smirk in amusement under my mask. There was something inherently intriguing and intense about this girl. I throw her the bodysuit. Her face turns a bright red as she tries to cover her body from me and a small gasp issues from her.

It almost makes me chuckle. Was this really the creator of the RgX? The most coveted technology of the time? My attention snaps back to the sound of a stuck zipper. She had been struggling with it for a little _too_ long.

I let her become aware of me before my hands take over the bodysuit. Her breathing almost stops completely as my knuckle runs along her back while I pull the now apparently fully functional zipper up completely. She turns immediately to face me, she stood more than a head below me and yet her eyes shoot me a glare with enough poison to kill a small animal.

I yank off my uniform shirt and walk toward her, the knowledge that I made her uncomfortable amused me. Her eyes pop slightly. Her arms are folded in front of her chest, she intended to hold her ground. I reach past her for my fully bullet-proofed leather vest, letting my chest touch hers over her arms. In surprise she jolts back and my other hand catches the small of her back before she can collide with the lampshade, our stomachs meet and she jerks away in annoyance. I let out a small chuckle. A pair of brown eyes were drilling holes in my back while I changed.

I had been on numerous missions, assassinations, kidnappings… But all of my victims stared at me with undiluted fear and terror. This girl felt panic and anxiety towards me, but there wasn't the same kind of fear, if any at all. She wanted to take me down, and she would fake the scared façade to analyse my thought process until she found a way to outsmart me. No wonder neither SHIELD or Hydra had gotten their hands on her work. She was much tougher than she seemed.


	10. Chapter 10: Drive

**10\. Drive - Sophie**

We leave the hotel-like room, exiting into a kind of beach house. We finally reach a garage in which a huge motorbike like vehicle lay parked. There was no one around, the property seemed isolated. I couldn't see any phones or computers. _Click_. I look down to see a pair of handcuffs around my wrists. Shit. My eyes narrow in annoyance and I could have sworn I heard a chuckle issue from him.

I stand beside the motorbike and narrow my eyes at him. Does he honestly expect me to make an idiot out of myself trying to climb onto that machine with my hands cuffed? He narrows his eyes back. We pause for a moment before his hands hold my waist and hoist me onto the bike.

I could try and mess around with the tech on this bike with my hands bound in front, if I had the opportunity.

For the first time since I was kidnapped, my captor removes the mask that covered the lower half of his face. He had a handsome face, once that I could never have thought to belong to a killer. A square jaw line, lips set in a firm line surrounded by day-old stubble and eyes that shamed the pristine sea outside. But his body was strong, like it had seen harsher and more painful fights than anyone could imagine. His left arm caught my attention in the light, it had a red star on the shoulder. The metallic paneling on it looked unlike any metal I'd seen before, was it armour? A feeling of both disbelief and dread seep into me. Just who was I dealing with? His eyes catch mine. I had let my guard down to figure him out. Did he suspect anything?! He steps closer to me and unlocks my hands, his gaze holds mine. I feel myself shifting backwards as he came closer his arms encircling me, his lips inches from mine. _Click._

I look back to see my hands cuffed, again, but behind my back and locked to the seat of the bike.

I grit my teeth and exhale in frustration, a small smirk pulls at the corner of his mouth. He'd read my plan again. Impatient anger bubbled to the surface as I pull uselessly at the cuffs.

He wraps a bandage over his left metal covered arm and gets onto the bike in a few movements. He kicks the ignition and the engine splutters to life in a scary thunderous clap. Just to annoy me further, he shuffles back to squish me slightly between the seat and his back. I would have smashed his head in, if my arms weren't held down. The garage opens and direct sunlight hits me for the first time since I was home. I had no idea what conclusion this would all come to, where we were going or where the RgX and I would end up. But I had to find a way to ditch _him_ and contact SHIELD, I was running out of time.

The bike pulls forward and zooms ahead, the beach house becoming smaller and smaller behind us.


	11. Chapter 11: Orders

**11\. Orders**

"Don't you think he's been out of cryo for too long? What if he softens up and lets the girl go, you know he gets confused if we don't blank him every few months." Rumlow grits his teeth  
"He has never disobeyed an order. He'll get the job done." Alexander Pierce says quietly, staring at a photo frame on his desk, one which showed him and Nick Fury shaking hands in front of the SHIELD insignia. "You are dismissed agent Rumlow." He mumbles.  
"I was fully capable of carrying out the mission, why use him?" irritation seeps into Rumlow's voice  
"You are impatient and are not as meticulous as he is. The RgX is a crucial technology for Hydra's future, I cannot let there be mishaps and mistakes."  
"He's the mistake. I could've handled it, she's just a college girl."  
"Agent Rumlow, you are dismissed."

Upon Rumlow's reluctant departure, Pierce sets the frame down and contemplates. The Winter Soldier had always followed exact orders, but too long out of cryo meant that he asked more questions. For someone who carried out assassinations without hesitation, he needed to be reminded that his actions were for the betterment of humanity. As long as he carried out his mission before asking questions, he was an invaluable asset to Hydra. Besides, what could a college girl do to cause a change in his views, views that had been drilled into the very marrow of his bones. What could a girl do to evoke humanity in a cold blooded killer who accepted lies as justification?


	12. Chapter 12: Lead

**12\. Lead - Steve**

I sigh as he leaves Rose's bedside and head to my motorbike. Each day it was harder and harder to sustain conversation, she forgot much more frequently now. Sliding on my helmet, I think of SHIELD's new dilemma with the RgX. How were they going to find a girl they had never met before who was kidnapped by one of the most high ranked Hydra agents in the world. Not only that, but this mission was on such a small scale that it would be near impossible to track them.

* * *

"Did you crack it, Stark?" I call, stepping in to Tony's living room  
"Look, you people need to give me some space. Fury's been on my back night and day about this algorithm, there's no need for you to join him in chorus, Steve." A harassed Tony ascends from the staircase to his workshop.  
"So you haven't?"  
"Yet. I haven't YET cracked it." He corrects me in frustration, still tinkering with the cylindrical machine.

I was actually relieved, if Tony couldn't figure it out in this long, I doubt Hydra could either. No wonder they needed her.

"So how does Fury think we're going to find her?" I ask finally  
"I figured _that_ out, dummy." Tony rolls his eyes  
"Care to explain, Stark?" I exhale  
"Well obviously the mission is on such a small scale that Hydra can't afford to have many agents following them or else they'd draw attention. So the only other option is implanting a tracker on her, so that they know her location even if she escapes."  
"And…"  
"And?! And I hack the tracker signal so that we can get her location too!" Stark looks exasperated  
"So where is she?"  
"Does no one appreciate the initiative I've taken here? Not even a 'wow, Stark that's amazing'" he mutters as he gets Jarvis to pull up a holographic map. "The two of them are somewhere north of Switzerland."  
"Now we have something to go off! Let's get Fury and get set." I spring off the couch and grab my helmet. I hear Stark sigh in annoyance, I pop my head through the door behind me, "Great job Stark."  
"Yeah yeah, Jarvis get my suit ready."


	13. Chapter 13: Caught

**13\. Caught - Sophie**

After what seemed like a few hours, he pulls the bike up by a shed-like house, he gets off the bike and walks in. I roll my eyes, was he trying to piss me off? I jerk at the cuffs behind me, he appears from the door and raises his brow. Behind me I feel the chains slacken, my hands separate. Rubbing my wrists I jump ungracefully from the machine turning to the house and reluctantly enter the shed. He follows behind me like a shadow.

I stand in the middle of the almost log cabin-like set out. Other than a mattress and cabinet, it was empty. I turn to see him at the doorway. He stares back at me almost challenging-ly.

A loud rumble echoes in the cabin. It was my stomach.

I bite my lip. Annoyance washes over me, of all the times and ways to showcase my mundane humanity…now? I look back to him, he'd raised another brow. I could almost feel him trying to hold back a smirk.

I feel his arms around mine, he pulls me to the other side of the cabin where there was a huge log wall. He cuffs my hands, again, to a metal loop that had been hammered into the wall. His neck length brown hair brushing the side of my neck. Soon after, he leaves the cabin, locking the doors. I hear his footsteps fade. Once they're gone, I search frantically around me for a way to get these cuffs off. My eyes fall upon a small chunk of serrated metal jammed beneath one of the logs. I manage to yank it out with my shoe. Taking off my shoe and sock with my other foot, I use my toes to grip and lift the metal to my hand.

I saw forcefully at the wood around the metal loop, my hands stinging from gripping the serrated metal. I had to pick up the pace… I had no idea where he was or when he would return. Finally the wood begins splitting, I place my foot onto the wall and heave. The metal loop, its surrounding wood and I, keel backwards and land on the hard ground. I had cuffs on but there was enough chain between them to move relatively freely.

Picking the lock at the front door was simple. Hair pins are actually sufficient lock-picks, if they're used right. The bike is still at the door. We had passed a small township on our way, it couldn't be a mile away. I begin jogging at a brisk pace, making sure to keep to the forest covered side of the road. I needed to get away from here, he was nearby and he would realise I was gone soon. I had to get to that township and contact Fury and the others. All I could hope for, was that _he_ wouldn't find me before that.

I reach a cluster of tents and burned out campfires in a clearing in the forest. I search for people, these people looked like they would be camping, surely they would have cell phones. I walk amongst the tents and see a spit roast with a large boar on it. There seemed to be no one around. I squint to seen tramping poles lined up, and various blankets hung on a line. Stepping closer, my blood runs cold.

Those were no tramping poles… they were guns, rifles to be exact. And those weren't blankets, they were animal skins. I begin to back out of the clearing slowly, dread filling me. These weren't campers… were they hunters? Were they agents? Was this a trap? My feet poise to run.

"Where're you off to young lady?" A deep voice with a heavy Swiss accent comes from behind me. Suddenly I can make out several other figures around the clearing. "Stay a while, sweetheart." Another calls  
"Get away from me." I warn, it was a bluff, there was no way I could outrun or overpower even one of these guys. Even more so, since my hands were bound. I hear them chuckle.  
"Let's have a bit of fun, eh?" one calls. My breathing becomes irregular and shallow, how the hell was I going to get out of this?! If I screamed, would anyone hear me? Would _he_ hear me?  
"What've you got on you? Doesn't that locket look pretty on you…" My hands fly to my neck, clutching the gold locket in a vice grip. I feel rough hands lock on to my upper arms and waist. I scream.

"Don't touch me, you bastards!" I yelp, feeling the hands reach into my shirt.  
"Just relax, you might even enjoy this." A disgustingly smug voice issues behind me. I struggle and writhe, trying to kick and shove, it was no use. Angry tears of desperation brim at my eyes. It can't end like this! I elbow the rib cage beside me and hear a wince. The hands lose grip and I run. I hear cussing, something catches onto my handcuffs and a weight knocks the breath out of me and topples me to the ground.  
"Frisky one, aren't you!" The voices ring in my ears, a knife begins cutting buttons from my shirt, a hand pulls at the zipper on my jeans. I scream again.

A loud crack sounds and the weight on top of me is gone. I look up to see the other men shifting back. In front of me, I see _him_.

"I locked you in there to keep _you_ safe. You don't know what this area is like!" he growls grabbing my arm and leading me to the bike. The other men halt in front of us.  
"We had her first, man. You need to leave us alone." One of them walks forward, a hunting knife in his hand and the dirtiest smirk on his pock-marked face. He stays silent and continues walking, his arm on my waist pushing me slightly behind him.

Before I registered any movement, the man leaped forward with his knife. I turn to see blood soaking through the white shirt of my captor. Before I can scream the man is tossed effortlessly on to the spit roast behind us. The other men scurry out of our way. I try to speak but he hoists me onto the bike with him and starts the ignition.


	14. Chapter 14: Heal

**14\. Heal - Sophie**

We reach the shed house shortly after, he was hunched over slightly gripping his side. I follow him, adrenaline and shock surging through me. He stumbles on to the single mattress and pulls out a first aid kit from under a cabinet. He searches for bandages while trying to put pressure on his still bleeding wounds.

"Here." My voice is even-toned as I reach out to take the kit from him. He doesn't resist my help and lies back down on the mattress without protest. I peel back his mesh undershirt, several very deep stab wounds decorate the side of his stomach. I gasp slightly, his face is expressionless. How could he even be conscious?! I shake my head out of my stupor and search for cloth to stop excess bleeding. It didn't look like they'd hit any major organs but the muscle was damaged greatly.

I recall my ER training rotation from med school and apply pressure, following up by sanitising the area and stitching the vertical and horizontal wounds. Throughout all of this he stays completely silent, an occasional strained breath but no complaints. _Why did he let them do this?! He could have fought all of them at once and won. Why?_

I reach behind his shoulder for a knife to cut the suture threads, I notice his eyes on me. I look at his face, the once calm blue of his eyes was now stormy. He stares at me as if I was being put through a test. Or that he was testing something in himself. He passes me the knife. I cut the threads, aware of his gaze on me. I struggle to cut the final thread, I see his face scrunch up ever slow slightly when the knife catches on the thread. I place my palm over the wound instinctively to relieve the sting. Our eyes meet again, he exhales quietly.

Whether out of obligation or emotion, he had protected me. I couldn't fathom why, but I was alive and still me. He had sustained serious injuries. No matter how good a fighter he was, these wounds would require a man at least a month to heal. Suddenly, he raises his hand and ushers to the corner of the cabin, where lay a paper bag of fruit. I feel my throat thicken.

"Why? Why did you save me back there?" I frown, rolling the final bandage over the gauze. Silence. "Why didn't you… fight back?" this time he looks as if he is about to answer me, he leans forward and I lean closer to listen.

A glimmer of silver and red issues from one of his pant pockets. I look down. The colours wove together and soon I realised that I was looking upon the shield of Hydra. He was _Hydra_ … he was going to bring my technology and me to _Hydra_ …My lips draw back in an attempt to let out a scream. But even sound was afraid to escape from my mouth.


	15. Chapter 15: Identity

**15\. Identity - James**

She draws back in a terrified grimace. Her eyes on the Hydra insignia on my weapon satchel. She recoils backward and I move with her, my hand outstretched to her. She hits it away. Seconds pass like years between us. It didn't matter if she knew I was a Hydra agent for this mission but now that she did, for the first time since I had met her, her eyes held true fear in them. My wounds won't allow me to move from the mattress. It would be a few days before they disappeared at the least. Even with my accelerated healing. I had to let Hydra know. SHIELD would be on our trail by now. I was aware that one of them had cracked the tracker signal. It would only be a matter of time before they caught up.

I suppress an exasperated laugh. This was how it was supposed to be from the beginning. Her fearing me. So why did I catch myself sigh in disappointment? Why did I not want her to fear me? A strange and confusing sensation settles on me, a feeling of wanting to reach out to her and assure her that her cooperation with Hydra would save people.

I had a mission to carry out, this was for the better. I can't understand it, but the distance between us irritates me. I lean back, our eyes locked on each other for the remainder of the night.


	16. Chapter 16: Assignment

**16\. Assignment - Steve**

"So it's sorted, you two will leave for the Swiss Alps tonight." Fury states  
"You're sure there's only one kidnapper with her?" I ask  
"For now, yes. But they'll probably be regrouping with agents once they get close to Hydra's HQ."  
"The Swiss Alps was where Hydra's original base. It was destroyed when Schmidt tried to harness the Tesseract. Why would they return there if-" I begin  
"I feel like there's more to it than just the RgX, Cap." Fury frowns  
"We have to make a move now, this guy has probably figured out I'm tracking them by now. We have to hurry." Stark interjects. I strap my shield on to my back as Stark walks onto the carrier plane.

The tracker signal blipped on our screen, they're heading north steadily. Unease runs through me, _why were they moving back to the Alps?_ All we could do was track and follow them, I didn't know what to expect when we confront them, _what if this was a trap? Had they tortured Carson? Were we actually bringing them what they needed to carry out their plan?_ I shuffle uncomfortably after take-off, Stark shoots me a look.

"Fury's thought of what you're thinking, we have to trust that we made the right decision." Stark sighs, I give him a small nod which unsuccessfully convinces him that I believe what he says.


	17. Chapter 17: Close

**17\. Close - Sophie**

We hadn't spoken in two nights. I had completed his dressings every night, if I didn't comply he'd shoot me this look. It wasn't a look that made me fear for my life. It just made me fear. He hadn't left me alone since the incident so I hadn't had a chance to even think about Fury and the others, or where they were, or how I could contact them. I was running out of time. I move over to him to redo his dressings again.

His eyes are on me. I can feel his gaze on my skin. My own breathing is quiet and slow, my movements measured. Suddenly his arm twitches toward his stomach, I jolt back instinctively. To my surprise, realising that I was alarmed, he tucks his arm behind his back without looking at me. It seemed like a strange gesture for a Hydra agent who ultimately wanted to cause destruction in the world, to restrain himself for my comfort. I continue, it was astounding that he had healed at this rate, he could move let alone move with control. I wasn't even sure he needed much of my help with the bandages. Finishing up I shuffle back to my post in the corner of the room: the stool. He moves slowly with me, panic rises in my chest. His hands reach for my shoulder and waist. I stay still, almost paralysed with fear.

He pushes my hair from my neck and pulls the shoulder of my shirt down, exposing my neck. I push him in protest but his firm hold on me cautions me subtly not to move. I feel sharp pain at my neck, like a scalpel pierced it. I shake, my hands jumping up and gripping his arms instinctively. His eyes search for mine, the intensity of the blue distracting me from the discomfort at my neck. The pain continues for a few moments until I feel gauze being bandaged to my neck. He pulls away, only then do I realise that I had clung to him earlier, my hands around his arms, my chest against his. I look away and touch my neck. The tracker chip. It was _gone_. Why had he removed it? Did he want me to attempt an escape? Was he anticipating it? My eyes follow him as he moves back to the mattress and rolls up excess bandage.

Then it struck me, _of course_ he removed it, if Stark and the others had found the chip signal he could misdirect them elsewhere as a _diversion_. Restlessness runs through me, how could I let them know?! Dammit, I hadn't been able to find any way to contact them all this time! My captor pulls on a black jacket and large laced boots. We were moving soon. _Think Sophie, think!_

He throws me a large jacket. How could I let them know?

The metal.

My eyes shoot to the serrated metal that had allowed my last escape. I don't know why but something in my gut urged me to pocket the metal. While putting on the jacket, I shuffle over to grab it and shove it into my back pocket. He soon after opens the cabin door and looks back at me, his blue eyes seem almost tired.

I didn't know what would happen next. We were so close to the end. So close to finding out where this would end up and who would hold the RgX. So close to saving everyone, or losing it all.


	18. Chapter 18: Preparation

**18\. Preparation**

Pierce waits at the back of the laboratory as the silhouetted figure of the Doctor handed papers to one of the scientists. He had never seen the Doctor, most of the agents had never seen his face.

"Come forward." One of the scientists ushers to Pierce and nods toward the Doctor. He steps forward and inhales as quietly as possible. The temperature was colder as he moved forward, the scientist gestures him to stop at a point.

"Doctor, we are at your disposal." Pierce bows to the figure in front of him. The man had his back to the room and gazed upon the Alps through the main windows of the laboratory  
"How far are they?" His voice sent shivers down Pierce's spine, it had an eerie deepness to it that radiated evil  
"They should be arriving at dawn, master. The Winter Soldier faced circumstances that called for delay but the plan is going as expected."  
"Very well. You may leave."  
"Yes, of course, sir. Hail Hydra!"

It was only when Alexander Pierce left the laboratory that he realised the large breath he was holding in. Exhaling painfully, he heads for his office. They were only twelve hours away, SHIELD would have noticed his absence and Fury would get suspicious if he didn't return in the next 24 hours. It almost set Pierce at unease to think of what the Doctor had planned for the world. The RgX would restore full power to him. He pages Rumlow, he would need back up when Carson arrived.

"You asked for me, sir?" Rumlow arrives a few minutes later  
"Yes, I want you to accompany me for the next 24 hours. Our guest is going to need a proper welcome."  
"Of course, sir." Rumlow smirks.


	19. Chapter 19: Blue

**19\. Blue - Sophie**

My hands were cuffed to the back of the bike. He got on and kicked the ignition. I knew this was the last stop before we reached Hydra's HQ. My mind was tired, my body was tired. It was getting harder and harder to see any way out of this. I hadn't been able to do anything. SHIELD hadn't managed to find me yet. I'd managed to leave a message for them when he waited outside the cabin for me to change out of my shirt and pants. I slipped it under the mattress but there was no guarantee it would reach SHIELD.

As we pull out of the clearing and onto the road I hear a loud clap. I turn back to see the cabin in flames behind us. _No_ … desperate tears slide down my cheeks as he doesn't look back surprised. _Of course he'd blow it up_. I keep quiet, if this was how it was meant to be, I wouldn't let Hydra break me even if they killed me. If SHIELD can't find me in time, I'll die with the secret of the RgX.

We'd been driving for what seemed like a few hours when I feel him tense in front of me. We'd reached a bridge connecting one peak to another. He pulls off to the side of the bridge and gets off the bike. He had a perplexed expression on his face, I stare ahead at the sun setting, the warm orange glow disappearing behind jagged hills. I felt the piercing cold much more now. _Click_. My hands have been freed from behind me, I stare up at him in confusion.

"Get off." He says plainly  
"What-" I begin  
"Get off now!" He yells firmly, I do as he says slightly shocked  
"Shit!"

I see his eyes widen as flames begin to erupt from the motor bike, the crack of an explosion sounds behind me but before the heat of the fire hits me, his arms are around me and we're moving to the edge of the bridge.

We hit the water and are enveloped by it in a sharp slap. As my body becomes immersed in the omnipresent dark blue of the lake, I feel the burn of my lungs remind me that I needed air. The surface of the water drifted further and further, fiery debris are doused upon shooting into the water.

Maybe I'd die now. At least the secrets of the RgX would be destroyed with me, I close my eyes content that people would be safe from this technology. My thoughts shift to Mum, to Dad, to Lucy, to SHIELD, to all of the ones I wouldn't get the chance to say goodbye to. Then the strangest thing flits through my mind. _Him._ I see the face of my captor, I hear his voice, I feel his hand on my arm. It had felt like an eternity since he had kidnapped me, as though we'd spent so long around each other that it was ironic that it was ending like this.

Bubbles.

My eyes see spheres of air encased in watery capsules issuing from around me. A pair of bright blue orbs catch my drooping eyes. They get closer, I feel as if I'm immersed in the bright blue rather than the dark water. I feel a thick steel bar wind around my waist as I slip in to unconsciousness.


	20. Chapter 20: Arrival

**20\. Arrival - James**

The barrack doors move aside, the snow around them shifting in a waterfall of white. Irritation erupts when I see Rumlow on the other side of the doors. I look down at Sophie in my arms, she hadn't woken since I had pulled her from the water. Her lips were slightly blue and small cuts decorated her face and neck. Anger threatens to overtake me as I step in.

"Ah the Winter Soldier! Glad to have you back, hope the journey wasn't too tiresome-" I see Rumlow walk towards us, his arms outstretched. Rage fills me. I scoop Sophie into the crook of my bionic arm, freeing my other arm. I increase my pace as Rumlow gets closer. My free fist connects with Rumlow's face sending him ten feet backwards. "ARGH What the fuck?!" Rumlow splutters, blood dripping from his nose  
"Don't think I didn't know it was you that bugged my bike." I hold Sophie with both my arms.  
"You bastard, you have no proof of that!"  
"Your untrustworthy reputation is enough. You think I don't know that you're bitter that Pierce didn't give you this mission?" Rumlow stays quiet clutching his bloodied nose.

"Now, now, enough of the violence." Alexander Pierce appears at the end of the corridor. "She's unconscious?" his voice lowers  
"We ran into some difficulty on the way, my bike was destroyed and I had to carry her from the Bridge onward. She's over-fatigued as well, she requires time to regain her strength before she can be of any use." I state noticing Pierce calculating my words.  
"Very well. Rumlow will accompany her to the medics" I see Rumlow's bloody smirk  
"I'd like to carry this mission out myself. Agent Rumlow has interfered enough."  
"She has a night to recover." Pierce turns and disappears, a reluctant Rumlow in tow.

I lay her on the patient bed and the medic begins checking her vitals. I stand silent at the side of the bed staring down at Sophie, it almost seemed as if she was asleep, her brows furrowed.

* * *

Dawn's light seeps through the blinds onto her sleeping silhouette. I sit at the armchair near the bed. Her dark brown hair, which I had only seen tied back, was open and flowed over the edge of the bed. Her forehead had a few superficial cuts on it, there was a bruise under her eye that was brushed over by her long eye lashes. Her exposed wrist still had the bruise I had given her with my bionic arm those nights ago. All this time it was my duty to ensure no harm came to her, to stay with her at all times. Now that she was here, she was in the hands of Hydra. They would blank me soon, they would try to ensure that I returned with no memory of this mission. But that was the thing... I was starting to _remember_ the missions, the people I had killed. Every time I came out of cryo, I'd be emotionless for a couple of days, but then the memories would start coming _back_. I couldn't, however, remember when I started all these missions, I had no recollection of who I had been before I became a weapon for Hydra. For some reason I hoped I didn't forget Sophie Carson. Unlike the others, not once did she beg for her life. She had begged for the lives of others in exchange for hers. The secret to unlocking the RgX lies in her and Hydra will stop at nothing to extract it from her. Was I beginning to question Hydra? Perhaps…but I couldn't let them know that. Nor could I let young Sophie Carson know that she had compromised me.


	21. Chapter 21: Begin

**21\. Begin**

"Hail Hydra!" Pierce enters the laboratory, the Doctor stood at his usual post by the windows  
"What news do you bring?"  
"I have good news, Doctor, they have finally arrived."  
"Why are they not here?" The Doctor shifts his weight onto his other leg, Pierce freezes  
"They- the girl is unconscious, she is expected to regain consciousness before noon."  
"You are to begin the interrogation as soon as she opens her eyes. I want the genesis algorithm solved before the sun sets, Alexander Pierce." His voice is coated in poison and malice  
"Y-Yes, sir- of course! Hail Hydra!" Pierce stutters and musters a salute before almost staggering out of the room.

Pierce sends notice to the medics to force the Carson girl to wake with drugs. The Doctor would have his head if he didn't get the genesis algorithm.


	22. Chapter 22: Compass

_A/N: Thank you guys for reading my work! I really appreciate your support, it motivates me to keep writing and improving my work :)_

 **22\. Compass - Steve**

We land near a town at the base of the Swiss Alps, the tracker lead here. Fury told us the Alps were Hydra's HQ. It would take another week to search the Alps, and the journey would be full of traps. I look to Stark for a response, his fingers pinched the bridge of his nose.

"It's not like I didn't know this would happen but I'm getting really angry with this." Stark says finally, "Fury's getting us to run around the mountains without proper leads or information on this mission. We're wasting time and I can feel it." Stark continues muttering. We needed _something_ , now that we'd come this far we couldn't give it up. The sun rises higher as the afternoon approaches. It appears.

"Do you see that?" I exclaim, a sharp light hits my eye from one of the peaks in the mountains  
"What the hell is that? A beacon?" Stark notices immediately and squints  
"We have to investigate."  
"We don't have the choice to pass it up."

Upon reaching the peak, we arrive at a clearing in forest that was filled with scattered debris of wood and bolts. Someone had bombed this area not long ago, the ashes were fresh.

"They may have stopped here." I stare at Stark who was poking at a pile of wood  
"They did. Look." Stark lifts a piece of wood from the pile and throws it to me.

The wood had two words etched onto it:

RGX HYDRA.

There was a circle with a notch on the top and a dot in the centre engraved into the wood. What caught my eye was the piece of serrated metal that was lodged into the circle near the notch marking.

"It's a compass. That notch is North and that metal is pointing out which direction they went." Stark takes a measured breath  
"So then it is Hydra." I sigh apprehensively  
"We have to tell Fury that we're going to need more back up before we break up their party." I nod as Stark flips out his phone.


	23. Chapter 23: Hell

**23\. Hell - Sophie**

My heavy eyelids flutter open to a white room. I lay on a hospital bed-like table and the room was empty other than an armchair which I saw from the periphery of my vision. The movement of a shadow catches my attention, turning around I see _him_. I tense up. His mouth moves but it takes a while for me to register his words.

"My name." He says  
"What?" I mumble, disoriented  
"James… My name." He sits back in the chair.

My eyes widen, why did he tell me that?

"How long have I been out?" I rub my head  
"Only a night."  
"What do you people want from me now?" I narrow my eyes  
"Hydra requires the genesis algorithm."  
"What?! How did they know about-" I panic  
"That doesn't matter, they're going to interrogate you soon."  
"I won't tell them." I purse my lips.  
"They're going to torture you if you don't comply."  
"I won't allow them to access the RgX, nor will I let them kill innocent people." I state tying my hair back  
"You're not afraid." He states rather than asks  
"I am. But not of them." I stare at him, he stares back.

What kind of a relationship did the two of us have? _James_ and I? Captor and Hostage didn't seem to cut it quite right. We were having a chat like two _almost_ normal people for heavens sake… was he trying to gather intel? So far his was the only face of Hydra I had encountered, the thought that I would now be under the watch of different agents made me uneasy. It didn't feel as if _he_ was a Hydra agent at heart, there was uncertainty in him. Or... maybe he was an excellent actor.

The sensation of confusion and the headaches almost felt normal by now. But this was it. The worst possible scenario had occurred, I was at Hydra's mercy. If I didn't hold up they would have the RgX and its secrets, if I failed this time, people would die.

* * *

"They're coming to fetch you now." James' head tilts up at me  
"Who?" I feel fear in my voice  
"Agent Brock Rumlow and Alexander Pierce." The names meant nothing to me, but they were unfamiliar  
"What about you?" I look at him  
"I will be returned to cryo."  
"They're going to freeze you?" I ask incredulously  
"Yes. As they do after every mission."  
"How long for? Will you- remember?"  
"Until Hydra requires my service. I do not know if I will recall my mission."

I couldn't imagine it. He lived periodically as a drone used at Hydra's discretion. Who was he really? Did he even know?!

"How did you remember your name?" I narrow my eyes  
"I only remembered it a day ago. I can't be sure, but I believe my name is James." Our eyes stay on each other.

The doors at the end of the room swish open. My head jerks around to see two men at the door.

"Miss Carson, welcome. I am Alexander Pierce and beside me is agent Rumlow." The dark blonde man with a light blue suit outstretches his arms at me, I do not respond. The other man stood a few feet behind him, he had dark brown hair and a large build, smaller than James but still strong, his eyes reminded me of that of a shark's: empty and predatory.  
"I understand that you've been through quite a journey in the last weeks, but I can assure you that we are here to discuss matters civilly." Pierce speaks, his voice made me wrinkle my nose, as expected he was full of _shit_.  
"What do you want with my technology?" I dismiss his words  
"Miss Carson, we require your aid to further our plans. It could change the world and save people."  
"How many do you need to kill first?" I spit, I didn't know if I was imagining it, but I could have sworn that I heard a scoff issue from James  
"I don't think you misunderstand how we work." Pierce smiles through grit teeth  
"So you needed to kidnap me? I'm not convinced."  
"Listen, kid, you're going to do as we say. You don't have any choice." The other man, Rumlow, steps forward and panic sparks in me  
"Agent Rumlow, please. Miss Carson, come with us, we need to ask you a few questions." Pierce holds Rumlow's shoulder.

I reluctantly get off the bed, the sudden movement gives me a head rush and I stumble forward, I look up to see James at my side. Our eyes lock momentarily as Rumlow grabs my arm causing me to wince, I see a muscle in James' jaw twitch. For some reason the courage and defiant attitude I had held up began to wane as we walked further from my captor. Was this the last I'd see of him? Why did it matter so much anyway? He'd brought me to these murderers in the first place, there was no way on earth I had Stockholm syndrome, I knew he was a killer too. But did he know that? Did he ever have a chance to decide? It took me a while before I realised I was pleading in my own way to remain with him. Every time I had tried to escape from him he had recaptured me but saved me from whatever I got myself into, what I couldn't understand was why he risked his life to make sure I kept mine, sure Hydra needed me alive, but what about the time in the forest clearing or the food he bought me or the bandage he wrapped around my wrist? I felt nothing but hatred from these other men, yet when I looked back at those blue eyes I saw nothing but sorrow that came from somewhere he couldn't remember. It almost made me want to mourn for who he had been before this all… if there ever was a time.

We walk briskly through several different corridors and eventually reach a tall black door. Rumlow opens it and pushes me in. I keel back into a single black chair. Rumlow stands in front of me and shrugs off his jacket to reveal a bullet proof vest and a meshed shirt.

"Welcome to Hell, Carson."


	24. Chapter 24: Fear

**24\. Fear - Sophie**

I spit a mouthful of blood onto the ground at Rumlow's feet. It only took a punch to the stomach to get me off the chair and gasping. Then again it only took one little "Go screw yourself" from me to set him off. How long could I hold out? How long had it _been_?

"Rumlow, I said _ask_ questions. I didn't instruct you to beat her up." Pierce appears at the door

I take the opportunity to spin kick Rumlow in the gut. He lands with a muted thud on the floor, disoriented he looks up, unable to process that the kick had come from me. I hadn't worked for that karate black belt by twiddling my thumbs, the only reason I hadn't used any of it on James was because I knew I would lose in a battle of close combat with him, he was too strong. But Rumlow was much less disciplined in his movements, and he got angry easily. Pierce stops Rumlow from hurling himself at me. I feel more blood pooling in my mouth.

"Miss Carson, you're making this difficult for yourself. Tell us what we want to know." Pierce sighs, I remain silent. As expected these people wanted me to tell them the location of the RgX and how the genesis algorithm worked. Suddenly the door creaks open and the three of us turn to see a man dressed in a white lab-coat outside. "What is it?" Pierce asks roughly  
"The Doctor… wants to meet with her personally." The man states  
"What?!" Pierce's eyes widen and for the first time I see his cool demeanor melt away. "There is no need- we're getting the answers-" he splutters  
"He wishes to see her now, the sun set a minute ago."

Several moments of silence pass before Pierce speaks.

"Get up." He instructs me, "This is your last chance to tell us. Solve the genesis algorithm." His voice is bubbling with anger and some other emotion that I couldn't put my finger on. My golden locket clinks as I manage to stand up. I purse my lips and the white coat ushers me out of the room leaving a dazed Rumlow and a silent Pierce behind. I finally recognised the emotion that I had sensed from Pierce:

Fear.


	25. Chapter 25: Ten Black Spheres

**25\. Ten Black Spheres - James**

It had been several hours since they had taken her for interrogation. I open the doors to the workshop, my eyes searching for bike parts and an engine.

"Hydra's going to have complete control of the world. If the Doctor uses that soldier serum on us and that RgX… we'll be unstoppable." I hear quiet voices behind the work stations,  
"What's going on here?" I grunt  
"You didn't hear, sir?" one of them says, "The Doctor is going to speak with her personally. I'll bet she won't last five minutes." The two of them guffaw and continue muttering.

Shock hits me and I feel my eyes widening. It couldn't be… I myself had not seen the Doctor, but I knew he was a cruel force that would stop at nothing to obtain the genesis algorithm. Would Sophie be able to bear through it?

I reactivate the tracker that I had implanted in Sophie's neck and divert the signal to Hydra's base. SHIELD needed to notice the signal. I myself needed now to maintain a low profile, any suspicious step would cause Pierce to blank me or send me back to cryo.

The next few hours I work systematically, spending time on bike repairs and on each of the ten black spheres at the bench. I had to assume SHIELD would arrive in less than a day. If this was to work, they needed to arrive in the next 24 hours. Sophie needed to hold on, just a while longer.

Suddenly my hands stop moving, a thought that I had put at the back of my mind strikes me: Why was I turning on Hydra?

"Soldier!" A voice catches my attention as I scoop the last of the spheres into the satchel below the bench. I turn. "Pierce has summoned you."

As I secure the satchel and make my way to his office, I contemplate. Had I been out of cryo too long to notice that my ideals were becoming weak? That I was being swayed strategically by _her_?

Or perhaps it is because I trust more in Sophie's judgement of morality than that of Hydra's. On that sole intuition, I planned to dismantle the very organisation that created me.


	26. Chapter 26: The Doctor

**26\. The Doctor - Sophie**

We enter a large laboratory like setting with huge windows overlooking the Swiss Alps. A single silhouette stands in front of the windows.

"Fraulein Carson, step forward." A deep voice issues from the silhouette which fills me with undiluted horror. My resolve needed to hold out. But without even looking at him, I was afraid.

The white coat nudges me roughly forward.

"I am told that you study to become a physician. Tell me do the Sciences fascinate you? Do they not show you things that no one else can see?" He asks, I stay silent almost unable to breathe.

"You see, doctors such as you and I have a hand in changing the world. My soldier serum and your invention of the RgX will alter the course of humanity."  
"No." I manage to whisper  
"No? You are young but you are bright. The creator of such a technology should want every opportunity to use it, can you not see the number of people you could save?"  
"You can't use it." The shakiness of my voice betrays the braveness of the words it speaks  
"I've met plenty like you, you know. You could change everything yet you cannot see the vision that Hydra has for the world. We can bring about prosperity… a new race of strong humans, a system of justice adhered to by all…"  
"No."

I see the silhouette move. The figure turns around and walks toward me. My limbs felt numb and detached from my body, I stood still unable to move, ensnared in an almost hypnotic trance. The man steps into the artificial light of the laboratory, it is then that I realise that what stands before me is no man at all.

A shallow sheet of red flesh stretches over protruding bone, lid-less eyes gaze boundlessly into mine. He wears a thick black trench coat, the insignia of Hydra adorning the belt that wrapped around him. In those terrible eyes I see only darkness, a pitch black nothingness that I knew had claimed thousands of lives. I cannot breathe in a presence so painfully stifling.

"Unfortunately for you, Fraulein Carson, there is no choice. You see, I require the RgX first to restore my body. Then I will use the soldier serum that runs in my veins to create a new race of humans. A race that will answer to me. The RgX will immortalise those I see fit."  
"I won't allow that." I'm afraid but confident. There was no way the genesis algorithm would be solved unless I consented to it myself. He seems to ignore me, and paces.  
"The RgX. Regeneration of human cells through alteration of the active X sex chromosome using UV radiation. So it can be passed down generations." His voice trails off. I am afraid, every fibre in me tells me to run, to put as much distance between the two of us as possible.

Before I register any movement, I feel a sharp coldness push through the skin between my ribs. The Doctor holds a knife handle, the rest of it embedded in my chest, he snaps the handle of and I am thrown back onto the floor of the laboratory. Warmness radiates from the source of an almost unfathomable pain in my chest. I hack up thick blood.

"I had expected that you used the RgX on yourself." The Doctor states plainly as I feel the knife end being pushed out of my body and the bleeding subside. A layer of sweat covered my skin from the shock of the trauma. The pain silences my voice and any logical thought. "Now that I know you possess the RgX gene, and since you _refuse_ to comply, we will begin our experiments. I believe psychological trauma is often more effective than physical, you see." Through my heavy lids I see the Doctor wipe his gloved hands and observe a sheet of paper. "You will be subject one of experiment one."

I feel my consciousness dwindling. I hear the familiar clink of my locket as I fall back onto the ground. I can't register anything, my eyes close completely under the weight of exhaustion. I could barely keep my mind alert, let alone think of holding out until SHIELD came… Or my heart gave out. Again, I slip into blackness.


	27. Chapter 27: Gamble

_A/N: Sorry I haven't written in a while! The climax is starting to come together, I think xD Thank you so much for your support and feedback, I hope the story is interesting. Will be putting out some more chapters over the next few days :) x  
_

 **27\. Gamble - Steve**

Stark and I manage to report back to Fury shortly after landing back in New York. A signal showed up on our detector just before landing. The familiar blip of the tracker signal that had been on Sophie had returned again except it was at a location miles north of where we had found it originally. The strangest thing was that we had retrieved the tracker and had it with us since, yet it showed it was at another location entirely. Stark surmised that Sophie may have managed to rewire a signal to call SHIELD. Either way, we had a direct location and coordinates on the Hydra base. It was either Sophie's wit, or Hydra's trap. We enter Fury's office room to debrief.

"So what now?" I sit up  
"Actually I don't want you to take action immediately." He stares out of the windows  
"What?!" The word bubbles out of my mouth  
"If Hydra's base is ambushed now and even one of them managed to escape, we wouldn't have any idea what they managed to find out about the RgX until it's too late."  
"They're probably torturing her, are you insane?"  
"There's a great deal that Sophie hasn't disclosed to SHIELD about the RgX. There may be-"  
"You want her to spill the genesis algorithm to Hydra so we can get it and then blow them up." Stark interjects  
"I understand it's a gamble but I want you to take the RgX with you. We could get the most out of this crisis." Fury sighs  
"The RgX?! Isn't that exactly what they want?! The more we wait the less chance she has at surviving this! And you want us to deliver the RgX to them?!" I frown at Fury  
"I know it seems cruel, Capt. But there's no greater incentive for Hydra to extract the genesis algorithm than to have the RgX in their reach."  
"But she may not survive that. We'll wait. But in 24 hours we're ambushing Hydra. There's only a small window of opportunity to catch them." Stark purses his lips and walks out of the office room.

"Nick-" I begin  
"Steve, you have to trust in what I'm telling you to do. If you don't I can't make you listen, but I need you for this to work."  
"You're coming with us?"  
"No. I have to see to a certain someone that's returning from an absence. But you're mission is clear. I trust in you." Fury pauses to touch my shoulder before leaving me alone at the table.


	28. Chapter 28: Business

**28\. Business - Fury**

Pierce looks up, seeing me approaching his office through the glass walls. He seems to be fumbling around for something.

"Welcome back, Alexander." I raise my brow  
"Thanks, Nick. Business has been too hectic nowadays, everyone wants conferences and meetings!" He exclaims as he shuts his briefcase a little too hard.  
"Aren't you staying in to oversee the new patent paperwork?"  
"Actually I'm leaving again. There's some urgent new business that's come up in Moscow, Nick. But I should be back in a day." He smiles warmly and straightens his suit.  
"Have a save trip." I raise my hand in a half-hearted wave, but he doesn't seem to notice as he shuffles out of the building.

I pull up his itinerary by overriding his password, what I see doesn't surprise me at all, though something would need to be done now that I know who the leak is.

PIERCE, A  
H4000  
19:00 ZURICH, SWITZERLAND

Moscow eh? I chuckle.


	29. Chapter 29: Redemption

**29\. Redemption**

The jet arrives at the Hydra base several minutes early, Pierce had managed to avoid discussing much with Fury, as far as he knew Fury wasn't suspicious. Sophie Carson had again refused the Doctor and had been sent to commence experiment one. This was his last chance to obtain the RgX and regain the Doctor's trust. At the door of his office stands the Winter Soldier.

"Sir?" He asks  
"I have your next mission." I sit at the desk, "You will be sent to be blanked now. The first part of this mission is capture, the second part involves your participation in experiment one." Pierce states, he wasn't sure but for a moment he thought he saw uncertainty on the Winter Soldier's face.

"What I want from you is the RgX. You are to apprehend the two leading SHIELD agents: Iron man and Captain Ame- Captain, the Captain." Pierce corrects himself, he can't afford to mention any trigger names in front of him, "This is to be done in no more than one hour and you are to then report to the laboratory."  
"Yes, sir." He repeats mechanically

Pierce pinches the bridge of his nose as the screams of The Winter Soldier emanate from the blanking chamber. Whether he was becoming confused or not, blanking him had the effect of making him more cruel. Pierce needed this ruthlessness now more than ever if he was to obtain the RgX. Once he got it, he could regain the respect of the Doctor.

Time was short, especially with Fury tightening security on SHIELD HQ. Pierce hears the soldiers arming themselves. The Winter Soldiers boots step quietly into his office.

"You have one hour. Don't fail me." Pierce waves him away.


	30. Chapter 30: Diversion

**30\. Diversion - Steve**

I couldn't help but feel dread upon arriving at the location the tracker indicated. I had to trust in Fury, but this mission made it almost too easy for Hydra. And Sophie? What were they doing to her? What had they _done_ to her? The RgX feels like a boulder on my belt, weighing me down.

"We have to stay together, Stark." I look him in the eye as the plane door clears us to leave  
"That's what they all say." Stark winks and hops off

The white snow is invaded by a few dozen men in black uniforms. Our own agents in grey filter onto the snow first, counter-balancing the black. The sounds of gunshots accompany the blur of black and grey on white.

Several other men charge at me with their pocket-knives, dodging them wasn't difficult at all, they didn't seem very well trained. Were they all a diversion? It's then that I realise that Stark and I have been separated.

My eyes scan the white hills for the familiar red and gold armour, all that I could see were more men, black dots, flooding toward me.

I finally see it, not the red and gold helmet, but Stark's bruised face. The rest of his suit is scattered on the snow, most of the torso of the armour was still on him but I can see a stream of red over his legs. It takes me a moment to disarm several more Hydra agents before I run to Stark. How could it be that he was taken out so quickly? None of these agents could have taken him on. Was there someone else out here?

The remaining SHIELD agents guard my back as I observe Stark, taking the blood between my gloved fingers. The liquid was thin and transparent. This wasn't blood, it resembled dye. Stark lies unconscious but with no external injury, someone hit him at a pressure point intentionally. I turn to see grey and black dots scattered on the white landscape, the gunfire had ceased. There was no one after us. This was a _diversion_.

I feel a blunt pressure at my neck. My consciousness dwindles. Footsteps behind me tip the balance of white to black.

This was bad. 

* * *

Obnoxiously white light pries my eyes open.

I refocus my eyes to a laboratory in front of me, Stark sits tied against a pole beside me. Huge windows overlook the Swiss Alps, and an almost hauntingly familiar silhouette stands in before them.

"Could you ever think that we would meet again, Captain?"

A voice of excruciatingly terrible character rings in my ears. I feel fear seeping into me.

 _I knew this voice._

"Ah how fate works."

The figure turns and begins walking towards us. No. I want to break free from the ropes and cuffs. To move away from this figure. As the figure becomes illuminated in the sterilised hue of the laboratory lights I feel the blood drain from my face.

 _The Red Skull._

Memories of the final days of World War II flood through my mind like a never-ending slideshow. Painful images of the carnage replay in my mind, preventing my eyes from focusing on the horrific sight before me.

Doctor Erskine. Howard. Peggy.

"You were destroyed by the Tesseract… how are you still…" My mind cannot comprehend the horror, before me stood Doctor Johann Schmidt, the Red Skull, the man who nearly destroyed the world over seventy years ago.  
"I was not destroyed. Matter cannot be destroyed, Captain. I was merely converted into energy. Zola captured most of me in a container meant for the Tesseract." Schmidt exclaims, ushering to his shoulder socket which lacked an arm and his leg which was bionic from the mid-thigh down.  
"How did you survive the transition?!" I whisper, the breath from my lungs seemed to have disappeared  
"The soldier serum I formulated accelerated my healing capability to a rate faster than even the Tesseract could pull me apart. However, my serum fell short after a point. The RgX fills the shortcomings of my serum. Once I harness the RgX, I will change this world as I once intended." Schmidt stares at me and I am afraid. What could we do now? How could I defeat someone who _could not_ be defeated?


	31. Chapter 31: Oblivion

**31\. Oblivion - Sophie**

I wake only to be blinded by an expanse of stark white. Refocusing I see two white coats scribbling furiously on clipboards and gesturing to other white coats beyond a screen I couldn't see. One of them walks out of a newly formed door in the capsular room. The other looks at me and turns to leave as well after saying: "Experiment one and subject one are ready for commencement."

"What experiment?!" I call behind him frantically, the man looks back, his eyes blank  
"Since your technology modifies the sex chromosome, the Doctor wishes to find out if the mutation will be transmitted into _viable_ offspring. You will be impregnated and bear a child, subject two, for Hydra's experimentation."

The words shatter every piece of me. I scream. But my pleading and hysteria are absorbed by the sickeningly white walls of the capsule.

* * *

Footsteps.

"A shame it came to this, Miss Carson." I knew the patronising voice belonged to Pierce, I stay silent. Somehow I had managed to get out of anything bad, somehow. Where was James now? Had they blanked him and erased me from his memory? "It appears, that there are intruders in our base. However it would seem that they possess _this_ device on their person." Pierce puts a screen in front of me showing a security camera capturing a series of men in white army crawling through the snow towards Hydra's doors. Captain America's shield glints in the sunlight and catches my eye. Another glint comes from somewhere else. A silver cylindrical tube was attached to his waist. My blood runs cold.

The _RgX_.

They had _brought_ the RgX… To _Hydra_.

"We have sent our own agents to deal with them including the Winter Soldier. Now, if he returns having subdued the intruders and retrieved the RgX, we postpone the experiment and you solve the genesis algorithm for me."

"But if he does not return within the hour-" Pierce begins, "In the event that he does not, you will _continue_ the procedure with Agent Brock Rumlow."  
"You're giving me an ultimatum that I can't control!" I feel the earth beneath me slowly crumbling away as I turn to look at Pierce's face  
"We must continue, regardless." Pierce pouts, raises his brow and leaves.

Rumlow… I feel sick to my core. I wanted to melt into the corner of the room so he would never find me. My eyes stay fixed on the clock outside the capsule, I prayed that James would be back before the hour was up. Right now, I trust in James. I can't figure out if I'm experiencing Stockholm Syndrome, or I truly trust James. I couldn't think of anything else I could do to postpone Hydra's plans now. All I know, is that I need _him_ here.

"Hours up, Carson." I recognise Rumlow's spiteful voice issuing from the door, I lay still crumpled in the corner of the capsule, "on the bed, Carson." He barks unbuttoning his shirt, I don't move, my body is shaking from the disbelief that this was going to happen. "Carson, I'll tell you one more time, get on the bed." A muscle jumps in Rumlow's jaw. I stay where I am, my eyes close as I hear Rumlow's angry steps toward me and pulls me to the bed by my hair. I could channel out the pain, but the tightness in my chest stays. I didn't want to give this bastard the satisfaction of seeing me cry but the overwhelming feeling of devastation was becoming unbearable. I feel his rough hands pull at my clothes. They had a different roughness to James' hands, they were greedy and careless.

All of a sudden I realise that I need to fight this man, he represented and embodied an organisation of everything that threatened what I wanted to protect. I push at Rumlow and begin squirming out from underneath him. If I didn't resist, I was allowing Hydra to continue their research. Rumlow throws me back onto the bed and pins my arms and legs painfully. I bite his hand, "You little bitch!" he recoils in pain. I feel his hands on my stomach and thighs, I writhe and scream at him. I didn't have long, think dammit _, think_!

"Get off her."

I stop moving immediately and look to the door. It was _him_.

"Get the hell out!" Rumlow spits  
"Pierce said within the hour. I've returned." He states quietly through his mask, I look out to see the clock. I hadn't bothered to check when Rumlow arrived but there was currently still five minutes until the hour finished. I kick Rumlow in the stomach and remove myself from the bed. "You bitch! I'll kill you first!" He clutches at his stomach and comes toward me, I close my eyes and wait for the impact but it doesn't come. Opening my eyes I see James in front of me, his bionic hand encircles Rumlow's throat.

"Leave now. If you so much as look at her, I'll break your neck." James' voice is calm

James finally lets him go and he walks briskly, crouched over, from the capsule. I stand up and move to James. He had a different look in his eyes, the mask obscured the rest of his face. I step back but he moves with me.

"James…" I probe  
"The bed, Sophie Carson." He states blankly  
"What?! James… D-did they do something to you?" Dread washes over me, what was happening? James was back, it meant the experiment was off…didn't it?  
"The bed." There was a quiet threat in his tone  
"James what's wrong?! It's okay the experiment's off now! W-Why…" my voice fades as I see Pierce close the blinds outside the glass of the capsule. _No…_

I take another step back but before I can see it, James lifts me over his shoulder and drops me onto the bed.

"James!" I call, hoping that he'll snap out of whatever Hydra had done to him but his bionic hand covers my mouth firmly. I feel several pills enter my mouth and dissolve.

I struggle and strain to catch his eyes but he refuses to communicate. Panic seeps into my body as I feel his other hand at my waist. It was becoming impossible to focus on anything, I needed to move away, to be alone. I feel pressure at my hips and his hands over me. I push against him to make this all stop but there's no more strength left in me. Heat radiates from him. I feel sharp discomfort. I can't breathe. Why did it have to be _him_?! The capsule, the bed, sound, everything seems to melt away. All that's left is a single thread of consciousness in my mind telling me that this was real.

My body detaches from my mind and I drift away from the capsule. I can no longer feel the pool of tears by my ears, or the heaviness in my throat. I feel as if I am once again immersed in the lake by the bridge, water creeping into my lungs suffocating me. I wanted to speak, to scream but the sound that came out of me was muted and echoed in the vast blue of the water where no one could hear them. I sank deeper into the water, further from the surface, my voice becoming quieter and quieter. No sensation reached me anymore, nothing reached me anymore. The bright blue orbs that had once saved me were hidden beneath closed eyes, the eyes that once pulled me from oblivion looked away as I fell into it.

* * *

From somewhere far away I hear a door click open and soft footsteps gradually getting louder.

"The pills."  
My knees were drawn close to my body, my face buried in them. I couldn't even think, my mind was shockingly blanked out. They were James' words, but they were faint and coming from a place far away.  
"They were contraceptive hormones. I knew they would blank me. So I kept them on me before-" His voice is barely audible

I snap out of it. My head shoots up and searches for his eyes. I see them, blue orbs like pure water.  
"You- Y- Thank you." Is all I can manage to whisper, "Forgive me." His voice runs over me, I feel arms snaking around me which makes me jolt and recoil. Even after his humanity being repeatedly erased from him, how was it that it was able to grow back? How could he still _feel_ emotion? How could he _know_ what I felt? I knew that he was the Winter Soldier last night, it wasn't _him_ last night. Even so, why after all that had happened did I feel safe with _this_ James? Why in my heart of hearts, did I know that the Winter Soldier and James were two different men? James moves toward me and pulls me to his chest, I feel a kiss in my hair and strong arms holding me and suddenly like a floodgate opened, tears pour from my eyes.


	32. Chapter 32: The Worst

**32\. The Worst - James**

Her small frame shudders violently in my arms, her tears flowing without end. I couldn't understand why she let me hold her. She clings to me for protection when I inflicted this inhumanity on her, I had brought the very technology that could alter humanity to Hydra. Why did she _allow_ me her presence? Why was _I_ sent to find her? Why did I have to do this… _to her_? The part that pained me the most was not that I had been blanked to the point where I would go through with such cruelty to someone like Sophie, an innocent, without remorse. But that the only thing I remembered was her looking up at me, her eyes drained and sad, I could not recollect anything before that. I couldn't even comprehend speaking what I knew I had done to her. Of all the crimes I had committed, of those horrific enough to recall, I was almost sure this was the worst.

I had managed to place the ten black spheres evenly throughout Hydra's base. The only memories I regained aside from what happened in the capsule were that I had captured two agents of SHIELD, Pierce wanted their belongings. Had I _given_ him the RgX? We only had a few more hours and I feel panic bubbling in me.

Yet the only thing my mind was instructing me to do was to hold her closer to me, to protect her.

 _A/N: Well things are starting to get really heated and I'm aiming to put quite a few twists into the next few chapters where all shall be revealed :O I feel like Sophie is still having great difficulty understanding that she has become so attached to James, she's developing so many feelings for one person in such a short time frame. After **Oblivion** , she's even more confused and more than that, she is hurt and vulnerable at a time where she believes she needs to be strong and know what to do. - Just a little personal note on what's happening in her head :) Hope you're enjoying the story-line, I'm always excited when I receive feedback/reviews from you all :) It helps me mold my story and characters better. Thanks for your support! :) :) :) _


	33. Chapter 33: Failure

**33\. Failure - Sophie**

"Carson." Pierce's voice had become all too familiar to me. He bursts through the capsule doors and stands at the edge of the bed like table. James stands at the corner of the capsule. "We're going to see the Doctor and you're going to solve the genesis algorithm for him. Not that you have much choice anymore. With the aid of the Winter Soldier, we have the RgX and we have two of the Avengers."

My eyes pop in shock. _No… no, no, no…_ I look over at James who stares at the ground. I had to do something… it can't be like this. It cannot end like this.

Rumlow barges through the door and roughly pulls me off the table by my arm. James tenses, but does not move. If Pierce saw the slightest defiance from him, he'd be sent to cryo. Or _killed_. I notice James pull on his face mask.

My senses almost shut off as I walk mindlessly, pulled by Rumlow, through a series of corridors which all looked the same. They lead to the same place. _Think_ dammit! _Think_.

"Doctor, the RgX! I have obtained it." Pierce's smug voice issues from behind me as he walks into the laboratory confidently and tosses me to the ground. To my shock, I see Captain America and Tony Stark slouched over and bound to support beams. The Captain's eyes meet mine in a state of worry. The Doctor stands at his usual post before the windows. Pierce almost fearlessly walks to him with the RgX. "Sir," he croons

"You cannot redeem yourself, once you have failed me."  
"Forgive me, Doctor, but I have returned both the RgX and Carson-" Pierce's surprised voice fades out  
"But you have already failed me _once_." The Doctor's whisper send terrified shivers down my spine, I can't see Pierce's face but I can feel a fearsome anger and hostility radiate from the Doctor.

I watch in horror as the Doctor proceeds to aim his gun at the now shaking Pierce. A moment passes before the Doctors directs the gun to Pierce's leg and shoots without hesitation. Pierce's shrill scream rings throughout the laboratory. A jet of blood spurts from his leg as he pulls himself away from the Doctor, who drops the gun and turns his back on Pierce.

"I have little patience left, Sophie Carson. Solve the genesis algorithm." He turns to me  
"No." I shake, I could almost hear the final seconds of my life ticking away.

My eyes widen and my heart threatens to stop as he points the gun at my head.

"Solve the genesis algorithm." His eyes are lifeless  
"No" My whole body is shaking, adrenaline surging through me.  
"Very well, Rumlow." He calls, I see Rumlow walking from the doors to where we could see him. Behind me I see James, Captain America and Tony Stark with several guns at their heads. A crumpled figure seems to follow Rumlow, or is being dragged by him. I almost lose consciousness when I recognise who it is.

 _Lucy._

The earth beneath me seems to crumble violently as I see my best friend, covered in blood and bruises, thrown onto the floor in front of me.

"LUCY?!" I scream, the figure shakes and stumbles around on the floor. _Oh God no, please_ … my mind cannot comprehend this. How had they done this?! What had they done to her?!

Tears sting my eyes and my chest begins to heave. How could I have allowed this to happen?! Lucy's now frail figure shivers occasionally in my shaking arms. She was near death, the large bluish black splotches over her body indicated severe internal bleeding.

"Lucy…" my voice was barely audible over my sobbing  
"Soph- don't, w-orry- we're –o-oka-y-" the shell in my arms had the voice of Lucy  
"Lucy, I did this-" I can't speak over the devastating thickness in my heart  
"Don't- ev-en th-think of apol-o-gis-apologis-ing" her head leans on my chest for support

"So then, Carson. Here is your first incentive to solve the genesis algorithm." The Doctors voice pulls my eyes from Lucy. I feel unfocused hatred towards him, the kind that threatened to consume me. The clink of the locket around my neck reminds me: I need to calm myself. My breathing deepens as I try to think of what to do. The glimmer of metal near the doctor catches my eye. His _leg_. It was bionic, a prosthetic almost. I had also only seen one of his hands hold the gun, I steal a glance at his other arm which was cloaked. Could it mean that he lacked an arm too? What if he had _multiple_ injuries? This could be it.

I didn't know if this would work. Had he sustained enough injuries for this plan to take _immediate_ effect? Could Lucy hold out until my plan played out? I could save them, I could save Lucy and destroy him. This could be my final calculation. And it can't fail me. There were no more second chances after this.

"I'll do it." I feel no emotion in my voice.

* * *

I take the RgX into my hands and touch the sensor to my forehead. The familiar blip of successful identification sounds. An electrode pops out of the cylinder, I attach it to my temple. I look at Lucy's broken body on me, the two Avengers bound to beams, at James who was restrained. Never had I thought it would come to this. But it was the only way. And then, I remember.

My acceptance into Medicine. My kidnappers in Croatia. The first time I met Nick Fury. The first time I created the RgX. The first time I tested the RgX. Thanksgiving at my grandparents' house in California…

0… the matrix of numbers registers onto the RgX and continues producing more ones and zeros in sequence as I recall. Finally the numbers stop appearing and the sensor turns red.

"So this is why only you could solve the genesis algorithm." The Doctor exclaims, "Because only you have lived your life. Because you are the only person who has Sophie Carson's memories. Only you can open the RgX, because you have converted your memories into a numerical code that only you can sequence."

I push the central button on the cylinder in and twist it. It is immediately snatched from me.

The RgX unlocks in the Doctor's hands.


	34. Chapter 34: Three Bullets

**34\. Three Bullets - Sophie**

A gun shot sounds.

My squinted eyes open to see my best friend limp on my lap. A pool of blood soaks our clothes in a horrifically symmetrical pattern. I can't breathe. The air in my lungs couldn't nourish me, the beating of my heart could not convince me that I was alive. Lucy was dead. And I did not want to be alive.

"I have no further need of you or her or any of you SHIELD agents. The Winter Soldier is to be sent to cryo, he has become weak." The Doctor orders, but his eyes are fixated on the activated RgX. I'm still holding Lucy's lifeless body to me, my locket resting on her forehead, trying to wake up from this nightmare that I was living. I had failed. I had failed her and the world.

 _Click._

Invisible Ultraviolet light around the open vent of the laboratory bounces from the exposed reflective surface of the RgX onto the twisted wire in front of it.

A focussed beam of light pierces the Doctor's chest. A loud scream issues from him as the radiation perforates through each of his cells, inducing the Rg mutation in his genetic makeup. Every vein in the Doctor's body becomes illuminated in blinding light, through his blood red complexion.

The light is gone several seconds later, I look up in horror as the Doctor stumbles backward pulling at his bionic leg.

The metal leg is tossed to the side and the Doctor rips his cloak off. I hear a blood-curdling series of clicks and snaps: The formation of bone and muscle. Everyone in the room watches in horror as tumour-like growths on the Doctors arm socket and leg begin forming limbs. I had never seen the RgX work at injuries this severe. He falls over clutching at his newly made leg.

"Sophie!" James' voice rings out from behind me and I turn to see him standing beside a now free Captain America and Stark. James had taken the moment to disarm the agents and free them. He tosses me a gun and I pull back, taking Lucy with me. Pierce was nowhere in the area, a trail of blood led out of the laboratory in his wake. Rumlow had gone too.

"I feel new."

We all turn to see the Doctor standing before the huge glass windows.

"Now!" I yell

We shower the Doctor in a spray of bullets aiming for his vitals. A moment later, we cease fire. A loud almost hysterical laugh issues from the crouched figure before the windows.

"I am immortal at last! I do not feel your bullets… Carson, you have completed Hydra." The Doctor breathes as his body expels a dozen bullets onto the floor. I take one more shot, aiming at his head. I hit accurately and it takes several moments before the Doctor expels the bullet as if it's nothing.

"You cannot harm me." He smiles, I notice a bullet scrape on his shoulder, it was minor but it had not healed.

 _Could it be that my plan would still work?_

"Shoot again!" I call at the incredulous James, "Trust me" I search for his eyes and he pulls the trigger.

He shoots once. The bullet is expelled.

He shoots again. The bullet is expelled.

He shoots a third time. The Doctor keels back. The bullet remains lodged in his shoulder.

This was it.

 _A/N: Is Sophie's plan going to work? What is her plan? :O :O Thanks for your support! I'm having so much fun writing and hearing back from you all. Even I don't know how this is going to end but here we go! :) x_


	35. Chapter 35: Prototype

**35\. Prototype - Sophie**

"You've reached your limit, Doctor."  
"What are you talking about?" The Doctor shakes in disbelief holding his wounded shoulder.  
"The device that you've just used. It's not the real RgX. That was a prototype, the very first version. And it's a failure."

* * *

"I-Impossible! My limbs, they have been restored. I'm immortal, I cannot die."  
"You misunderstand how the RgX functions." I walk toward him  
"No mutation can produce matter, Doctor, you should know that. The RgX does not protect you from death. The RgX accelerates cell regeneration, which has a lifetime limit. And after a point, the body will reach its limit and from there on cannot regenerate any further. It accelerates your death after that point. The prototype you have has a glitch. And that's why it can never be a weapon of war."  
"What are you talking about?!"  
"The prototype has a knack for trying to heal every injury your body sustains and cause chromosomal aberrations. Not only have you relied on it to repair complete limb regrowth, but you've allowed yourself to be shot in vital organs assuming that they will regenerate indefinitely."  
"Then how are you still alive, Carson?"  
"Because I used the real RgX. The one you've all been after, is the wrong one. You've reached your limit, you're no more immortal than anyone else."  
"Where is it, Carson?!" The Doctor screeches running at me, a gun in hand  
"I destroyed it."

Captain America and Stark take over, James pulls me to him holding Lucy and we run for the doors.

"You have ten minutes!" I hear James yell behind us.

I gasp. Something hits my stomach.

We close the doors behind us, James lays me down and tears bandage from his jacket to pressurise my stomach. I had been shot.

"You will survive." He mumbles frantically trying to wrap the material over me, my hand reaches out to stop his.  
"This is a major injury. My body will heal it. I have the Rg gene." I murmur.

Though it still hurts me, my body manages to expel the blunt metal bullet. James' arms wrap around me, pulling my frame into his. I reach out, my hands on either side of his face. His blue eyes are stormy. He pulls away and stands.

"They blanked you again. Why do you remember?" I ask behind him, a few seconds passing before he answers.  
"They're not easy to forget anymore. The crimes."  
"You saved us."  
"I'm the reason this all happened." His sad eyes turn away from mine

Before I can respond, he lifts me into his arms with Lucy and begins running.

"James, where are we going?!"  
"I'm getting you out of here. I planted ten C4 bombs around Hydra's base before they blanked me. I've rebuilt my bike, we have eight more minutes." He pulls his mask over his face, leaving only his eyes visible.  
"You did this…" I mumble, he had done this for _us_?

We reach the main entrance to the base, the cold hits me hard, chilling me to the core. James helps me onto the bike and lays Lucy on my lap, he gets on behind me and starts the ignition. I am taken further and further from the now exploding laboratory on the quadbike by the very man that had brought me to Hydra.

 _A/N: Revelations! :) Thank you for your ongoing support, keep me updated on what you think of the story! x_


	36. Chapter 36: Abyss

**36\. Abyss - Steve**

"It's finally your time Schmidt." I say, staring upon the disheveled and sprawled over heap before us.  
"You will die, Captain America. Two more shall take my place." Johannes Schmidt gasps through the blood in his mouth. I nod at Stark who charges his arm to shoot.  
"You're obsession with power lead you to this."  
"We were alike once. But you are a fool to aid SHIELD. Hail Hydra."  
"Stark." I whisper.

A blinding beam of blue white light strikes Schmidt in the chest, lifting him from the ground and through the windows. The glass cracks and breaks under the force, sending him into the abyss of the Alps from where I hoped he would never again return. I stare blankly at the broken windows. Each shard of glass that fell in Schmidt's wake seemed to reflect the faces of my comrades, all of those who had perished or passed before my eyes. It is not the cold that numbs me, nor does it make me content to know that Schmidt would die. In the end, _I_ was the only one left from that time.

"Steve, we only have a few minutes." Stark's voice brings me back from the past  
"Let's call SHIELD. We need to find Sophie." I reply.


	37. Chapter 37: Mist

**37\. Mist - Sophie**

He lifts me off the bike slowly and our eyes meet. His hands linger on my waist before he straps a rifle onto his back.

"What'll happen to you now?" I call behind him, he continues walking for a few paces and then stops. I didn't expect him to turn around or even say anything, it just seemed wrong for someone who had made such an impact on my life in such a short time to just disappear. But he did turn around, and he did speak.

"That doesn't matter, you need to make a decision about the RgX. This Hydra may have fallen, but there are more and they'll look to find you first." His voice is gentle, muffled by the mask over his face  
"I'll take care of it I promise. You're in danger too, they'd want you more than me."  
"Become a good doctor, Sophie, help people. Be happy and try to forget the hell I've forced you through."  
"I'm confused." I hear my voice break, I knew that he would go soon, and that I would never see him again.  
"You're going to find yourself, you're good. And I can't, even Hydra can't, take that from you."  
"I won't see you again, will I?" I feel my throat thicken, _why had I become so emotionally attached to this man? This man who had kidnapped me, brought me to Hydra and nearly destroyed everything?_

He chuckles quietly, but I hear him. His electric blue eyes meet with mine. _That's right_.

 _Because he had tried to rectify the mistakes he had made, not only to me, but to millions of innocent people. He had stopped the very organisation that had created him, he had undone himself psychologically and pieced his mind together again, he had brought back to life a part of his soul that had been beaten into silence through unspeakable pain by an evil force that used him as a mindless drone programmed to kill. To help us. Without him…_

He walks back to me and pulls down his mask. Closing my eyes, I can feel the heat of his lips in front of mine, inches away, our breath mingles condensing in the cold. His bare fingertips run gently over my neck brushing over my locket and my collarbone.

 _Click._

The crunch of the leaves beneath his feet capture my attention as he turns to leave. I look down to see my Taser gun clipped to the belt on my hip, the very one that he had taken off me when we first met. Nothing comes out of my mouth but a strained breath. He walks on, the mist enveloping his large figure until he becomes a silhouette behind a curtain of fog. The Winter Soldier marched on through the field, his outline getting smaller and smaller, fading into nothingness before my eyes, becoming the very myth that the world believed he was.

Then he was gone.


	38. Chapter 38: Normal

**38\. Normal - Fury**

The plane finally lands. Stark and Steve had managed to find Sophie at the base of the mountains. Doctor Johannes Schmidt had been killed and the Hydra base destroyed along with the 'prototype' RgX. Pierce had called in sick soon after his trip to _Moscow_ , as to be expected he couldn't be trusted. But it would be a premature move to arrest him while his agents had possibly infiltrated SHIELD already. Sophie refuses to meet with me until Lucy Croft's family is called and she is kept safely. I hadn't anticipated Hydra to have the means to find Croft but her death would not be taken lightly by the community. I let Sophie leave after her wounds are treated. She had been kidnapped, threatened, raped, tortured, her best friend was murdered in her arms. It would take months before she could come back to her normal mindset. The only thing that followed in the next few days was silence.

Steve had increased his visits to Peggy, Tony had decided to repair and modify his suit, no one wanted to be at SHIELD. Hell, I didn't. But the crisis that could have destroyed everything had been averted. For now.

 ** _Several Months Later_**

"Sophie Carson. You've finally decided to see me." I sigh as Sophie walks into the office-room  
"I had time." She gives an empty chuckle  
"How have classes been?"  
"Normal."  
"And you?"  
"Too normal." She repeats

I gesture her to sit at the table, and sit after she does. The question burning on my lips would be no surprise to her, someone who thought several steps ahead. I clasp my hands and look at her.

"You never destroyed the real RgX did you?" I ask  
"No." She replies, there was no surprise in her voice, "But I want you to do it."  
"Destroy it?" I frown  
"Yes."  
"Why-" I begin  
"This is possibly the cruellest technology ever made, Nick. It stops immediate death, but it kills you a little every day after that. I want it destroyed."  
"Where is it?"  
"Here." She says and stands up. Her hands reach behind her and unclasp the golden locket from around her neck. She holds up the necklace and stares at me.  
" _That_ is the RgX?" I ask in disbelief, staring at the tiny inconspicuous item of jewelery  
"Destroy it."  
"I'll do as you want. But you are to maintain contact with SHIELD after this." I offer  
"You have my word if I have yours."

I nod and stare behind her as she leaves the office room, the locket resting on my desk. So it had been with us all along. I chuckle at the simplicity of it, she'd fooled us all and kept it with her but safer than any place on earth where both SHIELD or Hydra would not think to look. I observe the locket. Destroying the technology would be easy.

But _she_ would be needed to recreate it in the future. And when the greater good needs it,

 _We will find her._

 **END OF PART ONE**

 _ **A/N: So there it is: Winter Hostage... PART ONE. YUP :) I'm writing the second part to this story! It'll be posted on here too so watch this space :) Thank you all sososo much for your encouragement and feedback, please tell me what you thought of Part One, I hope I can continue to write stories and make them interesting :D** _


	39. Synopsis: Part II

Hi there you all :) I'm working on Part II and will be updating Winter Hostage II in the next week or so! Just wanted to let you know that I've changed my pen-name (interesting right? hahaha):) Sorry if it's a bit confusing! Again, thank you for your amazing support and feedback! Even I'm excited for part II XX :)

 **Winter Soldier: Part II (synopsis):**

 _Five years after the events of Part I, Sophie Carson is preparing to graduate and live out the normal life she'd always imagined for herself. But haunted by vivid memories of her past and the demons in it, Sophie begins to notice she is being targeted by an unseen enemy that could bring the very core of SHIELD to its knees. She will have to choose between comfort and the greater good and confront the one man her heart could never erase._


	40. PART II: Chapter 1 - Nightmare

_A/N: Well here we go :) Part II_

 **1\. Nightmare – Sophie**

Lucy and I sit side by side near the river on campus. The cool blue of the water brushes along the stony border of the fences, the fresh green of the grass promoting the coming of spring.

"There are so many things I wish I could tell you, Lucy, there's so much that we could have experienced together if-" I begin  
"Oh stop. Look, I'm here with you always. I'm watching everything through you, so don't worry about me missing out on anything, you dummy." Lucy chuckles  
"I miss you Lucy."  
"I miss you too. But there's no point in looking back and regretting life. You have a future, Soph, use it to help others. "  
"I just need to find myself, I still don't know who I am."  
"You're going to find out who you are, don't worry." Lucy leans over and wraps her slender arms around me in a firm hug. I hold her, feeling tears at the comfort of her embrace. A few moments pass, I can hear birds, the sound of the water in the river, the bristling of the field in the breeze.

"You're a murderer, you know." Lucy's polite whisper makes me tense up and I pull away, _surely I had heard wrong_  
"Lucy…." I mumble in confusion,  
"You let this happen, Soph, why? Why did you let this happen to me?" her voice takes on a tone of malice and taunting, I stand up. We're standing in a white room now. The _capsule_.

Her face is painted red with a dark red in irregular splotches, bruises blossom across her neck, face and arms. My eyes widen with shock. Her facial features become marred with cuts and bumps. I stumble backward, "Why, Sophie?!" Lucy's voice merges with a male voice, it was painfully familiar: The Doctor. "Isn't that what you created the RgX? So you could kill?" the voice transitions into that of Rumlow, "That's all you're good for, isn't that right, Carson?", my hands fly to my ears to muffle the horrible words. Lucy is walking toward me, blood drenching her shirt from a single wound in her chest.

"Sophie?"

 _That voice_.

I look up to see _him_. James stands in front of me with his arms outstretched. Relief washes through me as I walk to him, his strong arms pulling me into a gentle embrace. A sense of security lulls me into peace. I feel his lips at my ear. Suddenly, his arms become shackles constricting around me, I struggle to pull away and search for his eyes. Looking up I see that his eyes are not the familiar calm blue that had once saved me, they were pitch black.

"Who's the real killer, Sophie?" he whispers lovingly.

I scream. 

* * *

I nearly fall off my bed when I jolt up in the sheets. It was three in the morning. I take a moment to even out my breathing before peeling my clothes off of my body, a sheen of sweat over me makes me shiver as I search for the door to my bathroom. I'd been having this nightmare for a few years now, it was periodic but it never stopped. The whir of the shower almost lulls me back to sleep. I'd become quite the insomniac. I stay up and read my Anatomy textbook until I hear mum in the kitchen.

"You had that dream again, didn't you?" Mum asks with a worried frown  
"Ah it's fine, it doesn't bother me so much anymore." I lie  
"Fury asked to see you yesterday, I-"  
"I don't want to see him, mum."  
"I know. But they can offer you a lot more safety than us."  
"It's not my safety I'm worried about." I mumble, grabbing my piece of toast in one hand and my bag in the other.

The last week of classes went by before I could even comprehend what was happening. I tried occupying my time and headspace by studying for finals, these would be my last exams at college, I may as well give them my all though the lethargy remained at the back of my head.

I try taking short naps instead of long sleeps most days, I get more study done that way. But also, I'd be lying if I didn't say that every time I closed my eyes for too long, I'd relive the guilt that welled inside me. That in itself was enough incentive to stay awake.


	41. PART II: Chapter 2 - Graduation

**2\. Graduation – Sophie**

Finals results came out on the dot at twelve in the afternoon. My results didn't surprise me as much as they should have, but I was more than content. I just had to go to campus and get my academic record.

"OH CAAAARSONN!"

I struggle not to roll my eyes as I slip my record into a folder. _Zachary Snyder_.

"C'mon Carson! What'd you get in your Clinical paper?! It's okay if you didn't do well!" he croons  
"Go annoy someone else, Zach." I sigh folding my papers and pulling the doors open  
"Well I got 97, its okay if you got less!"  
"You know I don't like discussing marks."  
"That's okay, Carson, it's hard to get above a distinction like me, so don't feel so bad." He saunters off, catching anyone unlucky enough to make eye contact and boasting.

If there was one person on earth who knew how to push nearly all of my buttons aside from Zachary Snyder, I had yet to find them. Obnoxious as he is, he isn't much of an achiever anywhere else in life other than in writing Clinical papers _. Dweeb_.

Funnily enough, Snyder reminded me of a certain persistent someone. Fury had been on my case since last year, trying to get me to come in and speak with him. Frankly, I didn't want anything to do with SHIELD at the moment. I had closed my experimental technology and locked away my notes for four years now, there was nothing more I wanted to offer anyone. All I wanted to do, was forget… to undo the horrors that happened.

 _And James?_

I never saw him since that day after SHIELD bombed the Hydra base. His image would flit through my mind frequently, the memories of the short time we had spent together replayed in my head. Fury had insisted I had some kind of post-traumatic issues and that I allow their therapists to make sure I wasn't going insane. My parents still worry about me since I've had no problems getting back into my normal life, they think I'm bottling something up. I suppose the one thing that bothered me was that James had vanished with the winter and it was almost as if he hadn't touched my life, or at least I was the only one that remembered. Who knew where The Winter Soldier was… Perhaps the Sophie that was once his hostage faded away with him. There was an incredible void which I can only recognise as loneliness in me. I wasn't going insane, I wasn't having a relapse. I was just alone.

I shake my head. All thinking about the past did, was shroud my mind in more confusion. It was time to graduate, time to leave these things behind me and fill my life with other memories.

* * *

"And to Sophie Carson, I award a high distinction and congratulate her on topping her year level with full marks on all of her final examinations." The vice-chancellors voice over the microphone catches my attention.

I bite my lip so as not to laugh when I see Zachary Snyder's mouth drop to the ground in disbelief. My parents look at each other in disbelief and look back at me with tears in their eyes, cheering me on. High distinction or not, it was them that mattered, the friends and family that I wanted to protect. I shake hands with the chancellor and am handed my degree. Seeing my reflection in it stirs something deep in my heart, I don't know what it is though.

"I'm so proud of you, baby" Mum runs to me after the ceremony and pulls me to her, squishing me slightly  
"We couldn't have asked for a more fulfilling and beautiful child." My dad grins, hugging me  
"Thank you, this one's for you guys." I hold up the certificate of distinction  
"It's your turn to get out there and take the world by storm." Mum tears up.

She was right, after the world taking my life by storm, I guess it was my turn.


	42. PART II: Chapter 3 - Lost

**3\. Lost – Sophie**

Finals: tick, Graduation: tick, moving to NYC: pending. I was going to begin the life I had always wanted. Everything would be _secure_ again, everything would be _normal_ again.

So, why wasn't I content?

It's not that I thought the people around me were superficial or ignorant. There was just a different depth to the things I had experienced compared to them. Not that I could tell anyone around me about what I had seen or experienced. Here we were, chasing our aspirations wanting genuinely to help people and change the world. Yet, the largest problems were passing exams or if we didn't keep up attendance. I don't want to undermine that, but the whole war over the RgX involved life and death whether we had passed an exam or not, whether we were ready for it or not. Of the two people in the world could talk to about it outside of SHIELD, one was dead and one disappeared.

As internship neared, I felt less and less sure about what I wanted out of life. SHIELD had agreed, on my terms, to leave me and my work hidden. The original RgX having been destroyed and the Hydra base in Switzerland left in ruins. I had the final RgX, my locket, destroyed and its parts kept secretly, there wasn't a good enough cause to put the technology to especially when it was more harmful than protective at its present state.

"Hey Soph, are you coming out with us tonight?" Keith catches up to me as I'm unlocking my car  
"Uh yeah, I get off work a bit late but I'll come join you guys." I smile, just hearing Keith's voice had a calming effect on most people, I was no exception  
"Great! At least we can catch up before you leave us for NYC, see you there!" he grins and pats my shoulder before turning to leave, his eyes linger on my face.

Mum was overjoyed at hearing that I was going out, especially with Keith who had her 'tick of approval'. I suppose she thought that my agreeing to go out meant that things were going back to normal and I was doing normal things normal people my age were meant to do. I reach for my neck, one habit that had never left me in the last five years was this: searching for my locket whenever I felt apprehensive, of course my hand met with skin, the locket, the RgX was gone.

* * *

The strobe lights colour the mass of dancing bodies in vibrant blues, reds and greens. Yet the show of light and joyful faces is far away from where I am. The blur of faces and smell of alcohol and the loss of inhibition don't reach me. My fellow classmates dance with smiles, blending into the crowd. I lean on the bar counter with a cocktail that I didn't want anymore. I imagine Lucy on the dance-floor with the rest of the class, her youthful smile and clumsy limbs almost materialise in front of me. She'd be telling me to dance with her, to stop sulking and to take care of myself. She lived on in my mind, always making sure I stayed on track and in form. _I miss you, Lucy_. It was a night of fun, we were going to finish one of the largest milestones in our lives, yet all the celebrations around me reminded of everything, everyone that was missing.

"Hey Sophie!" One of the girls from my Renal anatomy labs dances up to me,  
"Hi Kara! Congrats on graduating!" I hug her  
"You too, my friend! WEOOOWW" she was a little drunk… a _little_ a lot drunk. "Have you s-seen Keitthhth?"  
"I thought he was here? He invited me." I try speaking over the music  
"N-noooo, he hasn't arrived yet a-and he's not pick-ing up his phooone."  
"I'll keep a look out!" I call behind her as she dances off somewhere.

Strange… Surely Keith was here, he's never late and always lets people know if he will be. My eyes keep flitting through the crowd expecting to catch someone staring at me, watching me. Hands encircle my waist and I jump, about to scream.

"Oh crap, Keith! You scared me!" I punch him on the shoulder, sighing in relief  
"Guilty! You okay? You look a little stressed, do you want to get out of here?"  
"It's totally okay, you stay, Kara's looking for you. It's been a long day, I'm just gonna head home." I give him a tight hug, pull out my car keys and head for the door, waving back at a slightly puzzled Keith.

As I leave I look back at the counter I see the drink I left on the bar, I could have sworn there was something white fizzling at the base of the glass.


	43. PART II: Chapter 4 - Awake

**4\. Awake – Sophie**

My hand traces along his bionic arm lightly, feeling every groove and joint in the metal. We lie almost entangled on my bed, surrounded by my poster-covered walls. He tilts my chin up and kisses my hair, his hands linger on me. My own hands hold his strong shoulders as I pull my body closer to his.

All too soon, he kisses my hip, gently lifts my legs from his waist and slides his legs off the bedside.

"Please… Don't go…" I call behind him wearily, he gives back a sad smile  
"Don't worry, Sophie." His words are lost in a sharp and icy gust of wind, the wall around us become blindingly white and grainy  
"No don't leave!"  
"Help people." I can barely hear him  
"PLEASE DON'T LEAVE ME!" I shout into the hazy distance at the blurred outline of him.

The snow beneath my feet crunches as I claw through the thick air. My eyes sting as snow and rain pelt me all over. In a moment, the air becomes thinner, my breathing lighter and my body warmer. I'm back in my room, James is isn't here and I've woken up.

Outside I hear rustling, something or someone seemed to be moving on our lawn. I drag myself out of bed and against most every gut feeling, I open the main door and walk outside with the key and shut it firmly behind me. The lawn was empty, I pace on towards the letterbox. The air felt bitingly cold.

"So what'll it be, Doctor Carson?"

My head turns sharply and my eyes fall on a large figure in a deep navy bodysuit. The voice definitely has a German accent to it, husky and dangerously calm. I feel adrenaline surge through me.

"Who the hell are you?" I ask quietly  
"I think you know. And I think you know what I want."  
"Let's move this discussion somewhere else." I scan the houses around me to make sure there was no one out  
"No, actually, I think this is the best location. Collateral damage is an indicator of the efficiency of a mission." The figure has an almost refined tone to his words, I grit my teeth. "So then, will you be efficient? Tell me how to solve the genesis algorithm."  
"There's no point in that, the RgX is gone."  
"Oh?" he chuckles  
"Didn't Scmidt's death teach you to stop trying to control things you can't understand?"  
"You will learn respect, mutt. In time." He steps forward and then stops short. "I see you have a bit of company. I guess I'll take my leave then. Just know that no one is safe, especially when there's a traitor in their midst." The figure seems to dissolve in the dark, behind him I can see a black sphere appear attached to the side of my house. I squint to see it better and notice a flashing red light. My heart stops, _a bomb_.

I see a sudden glint of silver before me as a bionic arm crushes the black device into sparking shrapnel. I stand there paralysed with surprise and disbelief as the shadow reaches the rooftop in an inhuman leap and disappears.


	44. PART II: Chapter 5 - Quiet

**5\. Quiet – Steve**

"Rose, can you hear me?" I ask cautiously, the elderly woman in front of me blinks slowly and turns weakly to face me  
"Steve, there's so much I wish we could do over." She chuckles  
"You've done everything you can for SHIELD. I promise you, I'm trying every day to do things I won't regret."  
"You've had to endure this battle much longer than any of us, Steve, I'd only hoped you didn't have to do it alone."  
"I'm not alone, Rose. Maybe sometimes we don't see eye to eye but the people I work with now remind me again why I chose to be Captain America."  
"Captain Amer- Steve? Oh Steve is that really you?! My goodness I thought you'd- I thought you were dead!" Rose exclaims joyfully as I smile sorrowfully.  
"Me too. But I'm still here, Rose" I pull her frail hand into mine for the third time that afternoon.

I hadn't told Rose anything about the ordeal of the RgX and Hydra. She grew more and more weak each passing day and her memory was crumbling away. It'd only be a matter of months before she forgot me completely. I suppose it was better that way. I'd kept missions from SHIELD to a minimum but the memory of Schmidt's outline standing before the mirrors, decades after we thought he'd been stopped, was making me uneasy about Hydra. Things had been too quiet too long and in the world we were living in, that wasn't a good thing.


	45. PART II: Chapter 6 - Comfort

**6\. Comfort – Sophie**

It didn't seem all that bad to have a party before I left. At least I could say goodbye to everyone before I moved to the city. I'd almost finished packing. Ever since I entered second year I knew that I wanted to do internship in NYC, I needed to move away from here where everyone was vulnerable and a target while I was here. Last night had confirmed every one of my fears. The recent unease that had been running through me was definitely an indicator that it was the right decision, if Hydra was going to raise its ugly head again, at least they would be safe. I see Keith walk down the hall towards me before he speaks.

"You're moving away from us soon, aren't you?"  
"I'd said I'd be moving after graduation. I just need a change of scenery, I feel like I could think a little more on my own." I smile  
"Keep in touch, okay. Don't run away from us, I know it sounds cliché but we only want to help."  
"I get that, Keith. But a lot of things have happened and I'm different now." a sigh comes to my lips  
"I know you feel distant from everyone, Soph. You just need to know that, even if, sometimes we don't understand completely whatever it is that you're going through… it's good to get it all out of your system." Keith sighs and puts his hands in his pockets  
"Thanks, Keith. I'll try." I smile at him as he turns to look at me.  
"Don't hurt alone, Soph." Keith moves closer to me, his hands encircling my waist. I feel my shoulders relaxing, my eyes close as I let myself take in his embrace. "I care about you a lot more than I'd like to admit. Tell me what's going on." He whispers  
"Well- I-" I begin but am cut off by shouts from downstairs calling Keith and I back down to the party, I sigh  
"I'll go babble until they get sick of me. We'll talk later okay?" He smiles and pecks my cheek  
"Sure thing."

In a sense, I was grateful for Keith. I saunter out to the balcony as the party begins to pick up. Throughout the last five years Keith was the only one on campus who knew what to say and when not to say anything. Aside from Lucy, he was the only other to know about the idea of the RgX and still, I hadn't even told him that I managed to actually create it. I hated to keep him in the dark, but there was no way I was putting anyone else on the line again.


	46. PART II: Chapter 7 - Maybe

**7\. Maybe – James**

 _Maybe I shouldn't have... What if this was jeopardising everything? Maybe I was being selfish- I guess it's too late now._


	47. PART II: Chapter 8 - Dream

**8\. Dream – Sophie**

Standing on the balcony I gaze down at the bustling party on the lawn. Though everyone knows I need to have space, I felt like a terrible host: sauntering off mid-party to be alone. After the ordeal five years ago which in the scheme of things was short, this world of parties and celebration now lacked lustre to me. My chest feels constricted with a heaviness that almost felt sweet. What did I have? My life, the lives of my family, the destruction of the RgX and a bittersweet yearning for a man who, to the world, did not exist. Yet soon after, a piercing sadness washes through me, mingling with the good and turning the sweetness to sour guilt. Lucy, all those that Hydra murdered and ruined. It would only happen again if I stayed.

In my periphery a shadow shifts. I turn around at first seeing nothing. Panic rises in me, a familiar sensation but one that I hadn't felt in a long time. _Not since_ … The shadow moves again, its humanoid silhouette standing at the corner of the balcony. The shadow mixes with colour to reveal a tall figure. Immediately I try to recall what I had near me that could be used as a weapon, I touch my thigh, the Taser gun. I hear a painfully familiar chuckle.

Then I see it.

Then I see _him_.

Day old stubble shades the lower half of his face, his dark brown hair is shorter. He wore simple loose black track-pants and a black shirt though I could see his muscular form clearly through them, lean muscle ropes around his arm, his other arm is covered in a grey arm brace which would look unsuspicious to anyone walking past. But the same electric blue eyes lay nestled on his chiselled face.

"James…" I barely make a sound  
"Sophie." James tucks his hands in his pockets and leans back on the railing of the balcony, I let out the breath I had been holding in for a minute. I almost feel my heart beat quieter amidst the muted buzz of the party, as if the silence would reassure me that I was just in a dream.


	48. PART II: Chapter 9 - Return

**9\. Return – Sophie**

Seeing him in such casual clothing almost makes me want to laugh. We'd seen each other in Armor, bloodied and even naked. Despite this apparent absurdity, I have a strange and irrational urge to run to him, to feel the sanctuary of his arms around me. _Don't be a bloody idiot, Sophie, this isn't some fluffy chick-flick_. I refrain from any expression as James paces around the balcony, we weren't strangers, but we weren't anything more, it made no sense.

"After all this time, why?" I ask, my breathing remains quiet and cautious  
"I guess you could call it a personal motive." He exhales in a measured way, staring at the sparsely dotted stars in the navy sky  
"Where are you now?"  
"Where I need to be, out of sight and off the radar."  
"It doesn't have to been that way. Maybe that's true for The Winter Soldier, but not for you, James."  
"You trust me, why?" his eyes meet mine, they had an expression of incredulity  
"Hydra ordered you to bring me to them alive. But there were so many times you saved me when you didn't have to. Why would you go out of your way?"  
"I don't believe I saved you from anything, Sophie."  
"But you came back. It was you last night wasn't it? You saved this entire neighbourhood."  
"I'm only here to ensure your move from here to central New York is… safe."  
"What am I to you, James?"  
"I don't understand."  
"After all of this time, I still haven't been able to understand what we are to each other."  
"I'm a criminal, Sophie, you were my victim. That is who we are."  
"You're wrong."  
"If you knew… what I've-"  
"I'm not scared, James."

He steps closer, I have the urge to step back but I stand my ground. His hair brushes my face in the breeze, I can feel the heat of his lips near mine, his nose presses against my cheek and I feel my hands clasp around the balcony rail. This always happened between us, frustration wells in me as I wait for a _click_ and him to then disappear somehow, but it doesn't happen.

"Would you run from me if you knew every single crime I committed?" His whisper sends an uncontrollable shiver through me  
"I would ask if it was really you that committed them."  
"Who else could have, Sophie?" he murmurs in confusion  
"The Winter Soldier, a piece of Hydra."

I hear a low chuckle near my ear and a hand on my thigh before I can register it:

 _Click._

"Are you serio-" I begin

Pressure on my lips cuts me off. My eyes fly open only to be drowned in the sea of blue before them. James. Long lashed eyelids cover the blue and long arms, ropy with muscle, snake around me. I feel my eyes closing. Our breaths mingle with the smell of summer and grass in the air. There wasn't a gap between us, his strong stomach presses against mine and my chest against his. I could only recognise one sensation above the many that flood through my mind and body. Weight. There was a heavy pressure in my chest that prevents me from producing any other logical thought. This weight that paralyses me demands something I cannot give it, it resurfaces in response to _him_. But this weight is not pain. It's yearning in its purest form. I yearned for his presence, his knowing eyes, his protection.

Before the weight on my chest is satiated, the warm pressure on my lips decreases until it is no longer there. The suddenly cold summer air runs over my face and when I open my eyes he's gone. _Of course_ , he's gone.

I search around for the source of the clicking sound earlier, my thigh felt lighter… I look down to see my Taser gun had been unhitched and left by my feet. I scoff in amusement. So he _did_ get some kind of kick out of that. But despite his need to find amusement, in that one kiss I regained the rest of a hundred sleepless nights. I wanted more.


	49. PART II: Chapter 10 - One Month

**10\. One Month**

"And you understand that I can't have any more failures?" Alexander Pierce stands at a window that overlooks SHIELD's main base  
"I don't fail, Mr Pierce. I have never failed Hydra before." The boy bows with his hands folded neatly behind his back  
"The Winter Soldier's escape has cost us billions. He was one of our most loyal agents, guaranteed to succeed. If he was weak enough to be swayed by Sophie Carson, what chance do you have?"  
"He was brainwashed to work for you. I was born knowing I wanted to see a world made by Hydra, no conditioning made me want that. I've been raised to carry out espionage, to lack remorse for those who cannot see Hydra's vision. My plan has already begun to work, Mr Pierce." The confidence in his eloquent voice almost reassures Pierce  
"You know what will happen if you do not obtain the RgX and return her to our custody, don't you?"  
"Of course, you see, I don't fear death but at the same time, I don't fail. Perhaps that's what's kept me alive."  
"Well then, agent Hans, she moves to New York tomorrow. You have one month."  
"Sophie Carson and I will see you in one month, and Hydra will have the RgX." The boy nods and turns on his heel to leave.

At this point, Alexander Pierce was desperate. Five years had passed with Fury tightening security and monitoring outgoing and incoming communications. The half-crescent scar on his leg was enough reminder that Hydra would only tolerate his blunders so long. Fury had told everyone that the RgX had been destroyed and yet when agent Hans discovered it was still intact and in SHIELD's vicinity, Pierce wasn't the least bit surprised. Fury, however meticulous, was becoming predictable. The silence would have lulled Sophie Carson into some sense of security, maybe _that_ was agent Hans' target. He would be able to remove her from SHIELD's watch and complete the mission. Though the undying and labyrinthine network of guilt that had integrated itself within her was enough to break her into submission. She may have caught Doctor Schmidt off guard, but there was nothing more she could do to delay Hydra now.


	50. PART II: Chapter 11 - Nothing

**11\. Nothing – James**

The Romanov woman stands before the target shielding him as they tumble from their vehicle and run to another. My gun was powerful enough. I pull the trigger, hearing the woman's shrill cry pierce the wintry air as the bullet rips through her hip. The two vanish into the snow as I reload my rifle. Blood seeps into the snow, setting a stark contrast of white and deep crimson.

* * *

The flaxen bed beneath me is damp with sweat when I jolt up in it. The memories Hydra had once electrically erased from my mind had been returning in vivid visions when I slept. Faces that I didn't know flitted through my mind more frequently, it almost surprised me that I remembered each small detail about them. If I didn't recall the terrible memories of my missions, I saw faces in my sleep. I didn't recognise any of them but they all had one of two expressions: Anger… or devastatingly bottomless fear. I'd seen Sophie's face many times. In her eyes, I only saw recognition. As if she saw past what I had done.

I lift up the barbells from the corner of the room and start stretching, five years under the radar tracking Hydra's activities almost made me impatient. Meeting her again reminded me of how vulnerable she is. I hadn't anticipated that Hydra would reach out to her now, they weren't making any huge move, which meant they were waiting for the right time, the right opportunity. Sophie's move would make her an easy target, she'd be alone and SHIELD wouldn't be able to get to her on time. I shouldn't have met with her last night, I _knew_ I shouldn't have. But it was taking everything I had to keep away from her now. Everything about her tiny frame, her smile and ever-present pensive frown and the full curve of her lips embedded her in my mind.

The orange hue of sunrise washes over the side of the cottage as I pull my bike out of the shed. This bike wasn't as heavy duty as the ones I was used to, but it was sufficient enough without drawing suspicions. Kicking it into gear, I could almost feel her hands wrap around my waist in the breeze, unsure about where we were going or who I was yet inquisitively trusting.

Remembering things is a hell of a lot harder than forgetting. But if it's _her_. This pain is nothing.


	51. PART II: Chapter 12 - Boxes

_A/N: WOOOOWW, so much has been going on right now and I'm so sorry for not writing for so long! Work and Uni has been crazy hectic but I've been sitting with Winter Hostage again and I miss writing and hearing from you all. Here's some more, hopefully the wait will be a lot shorter for the next parts of the story :) Thank you for supporting me, even when I disappear for a bit, means so much :) Hope you like where it's going so far! Please let me know what you think :) x  
_

 **12\. Boxes – Sophie**

The apartment seems to stare back at me and the stack of boxes to unpack looked menacing. Naturally, I had to have the same nightmare again last night, just what I needed to rest up before the big move. I looked about as decent as a racoon put through the dryer. My phone buzzes in my pocket, Keith.

"Heya" I start  
"Hey Soph! How's the new place?"  
"Um, empty I guess, but I'm sure it'll look homier when I unstack this tower of boxes."  
"I could come help you, are you free tomorrow night?"  
"Nah don't sweat it! But it'd be good to catch up soon!" I balance the phone on my shoulder and lift the first box, my hand slips a little and I nearly gasp as it falls. There's no thump on the floor though. I look to see the box in the hands of my ex-Captor. The shock keeps me silent.  
"I'd love to see you Soph! Let's go out for dinner tomorrow yeah?" Keith's enthusiastic voice chirps as James carries the box to the other end of the room.  
"I'll have to take a raincheck on tomorrow, Keith, sorry something's come up." I apologize, hearing a small scoff from James.  
"Ah that's okay, you must be busy. I'll call you later okay?" Keith sounds oblivious, thank heavens.  
"Catch you later, Keith, take care." I hang up first.

James had begun opening the box and was sifting through the photo frames I had kept inside it. He seems to be scanning carefully over the smiling faces behind the glass.

"I would've let you come in if you knocked on the door, you know." I chuckle, actually relieved that he'd been serious when he said he'd watch over my move.  
"It's a bit 'mainstream'." The shadow of a smirk falls over his lips, he surprises me with his new vocab, there was an air of almost peace about him, he was usually so stoic and cautious.  
"I still can't believe you're here."  
"Neither can I, but you're not safe here." He sets down the photo frame and his usual demeanour returns much to my disappointment.  
"You're here with me aren't you?"  
"It's not enough, Sophie. There's something wrong about all of this. Hydra seems too quiet."  
"We know to take precautions, James." I walk to him, wanting to run my hands over his.  
"I'll be nearby." He doesn't seem to notice my steps to him and stands  
"Don't leave." I sigh in frustration  
"You start work tomorrow, I'll be following you in secret." He glances into my eyes for a moment and walks to the door.

The muted shutting of the door reminds me that I'm alone again. My thoughts flit to the man in the navy bodysuit. I had to tell Fury at some point, no matter how much I didn't want to return to SHIELD's HQ. But if James was with me, telling SHIELD would overcomplicate everything, they'd try to bring him into custody which would be exactly what Hydra would want. The fact that a man who'd all but vanished from my life was around me again as if it was nothing, made me furious. I wanted to yell at him, to ask him how he could leave me and yet nothing but happiness and relief wash over me when I see him and I wanted nothing more than to be close to him.


	52. PART II: Chapter 13 - Distance

**13\. Distance – Sophie**

Well the first week of shifts at the hospital were something I'll never forget. The 48 hour gruels had gone by painstakingly slow and I didn't know all of the nurses and adjusting was harder than it usually is for me. I collapse onto the couch, enjoying the sinking feeling the leather had around me. All I needed was food and a shower and I had the next couple of days off to have a proper sleep. At least I was so exhausted I was sure I'd have a dreamless sleep, no nightmares, the thought lulls me into a trance.

My eyes fly open and I thrash about on the couch for several moments before I feel James' arms over mine. The sky was dark and dotted with stars, I'd fallen asleep right there in my scrubs. The look in his eyes told me he knew I'd had _that_ dream again. He scoops me from the couch and heads to my bedroom, pulling off my sneakers along the way. Despite the involuntary sniffs, I remain quiet as he pulls the sheets over me.

"Don't leave." I feel the sobs subside, waiting for him to respond  
"I'm right beside you." James' weight depresses the mattress and his arms pull me into him, I let my lips brush his and though I feel him tense up, I don't stop. 

* * *

Him.

My senses are overwhelmed in him. It's as if my lips can't get enough of him. Feeling his arms around me, pulling me firmly to him. The exhilaration of having his body near mine, holding me.

His lips pull away only for him to shrug off his shirt, revealing his chiselled body. Strong, defined muscles cover his stomach, power radiates from him beckoning me to him in an irresistible stupor. Without even thinking I trace the ropy muscle over his fleshed shoulder, contrasting it with the cool metal sutured to his left side. The scars feel rough but do not alarm me. I feel his eyes on me, blue piercing the brown of my irises. But the usually collected and pristine blue eyes, were hazy with the same kind of emotion that I knew he saw in mine.

Any distance between us almost hurts, a strange desperation was filling my body, taking over every sense and inhibition in me. Our fingers intertwine, I'm breathless again from his kisses. I begin unbuttoning my shirt, exposing my collarbones, then my chest… I pull myself to him, searching for his lips. But his arms, once holding me tightly to him, were at his sides. I blink in surprise when he shuffles to sit at the other side of the bed and puts his elbows on his knees.

"You know why I can't-" He relents and reaches for my shoulder, which I shrug off in annoyance  
"Whatever." I stand to leave, I wanted to be alone, I couldn't think with him here,  
"Soph-"  
"Excuse me." I shuffle into the guest bedroom and close the door behind me a little harder than a frustrated child.

All I could think of was how frustrated he'd made me in the last ten minutes, in more ways than one. Every time we got close he would be the first to pull away and I would be the one left to the side like there was some kind of punchline I'd missed. There's an almost worried knock at the door, I just ignore it until I hear his footsteps fade down the hallway. I couldn't believe how childish I was being.


	53. PART II: Chapter 14 - One Stone

**14\. One Stone**

"You're planning both of these 'heists' in one afternoon?" Alexander Pierce massages his now throbbing temples  
"I'm sure you're familiar with the saying 'to kill two birds with-'" Hans drones, smug as ever  
"One stone? Yes. So how is it you're going to be in two places at one time?"  
"Good planning, sir. It is something I excel at in particular. Though not as thoroughly secure as I had anticipated, no matter, it will reduce the time I need." He nods, Pierce feels the criticism indirectly roll over him.  
"You're free to leave." Pierce waves Hans off and returns to the screens in front of him.

Hydra hadn't spoken to him directly since the incident and yet he felt their constant eye on him, in the streets, the subways, around his home. Alexander Pierce had always managed to appear nonchalant and un-phased, but his eyes rested on sunken cheeks certainly less charming than they usually were. Every nerve around his leg seemed to remember the bullet that, though no longer there, had burrowed into the flesh of his thigh. While it wasn't enough to kill him, the punishment of humiliation had begun taking its toll.


	54. PART II: Chapter 15 - Safe 305

**15\. Safe 305 – Fury**

It felt like it had only been a moment since the conference with the world leaders finished and I had sat down at my desk to massage my temple when the floor alarm sounds and my pager blinks an angry red. _Basement lab_ _security breach_.

"What the hell is going on?!" I feel several shoulders brush past me towards the lab, to my irritation no one responds in the crowd.

Ahead I could see the fortified glassy walls of the high security container shattered in places, the movement sensitive triggers lie dismantled on the white panelled floor. I squint to read the safe number above the security keypad though I know very well what this safe is.

 _Safe 305._

Dread washes through me like a cold and bubbling viscous liquid in my veins before being replaced with burning frustration. I stand behind the panicked cluster of agents who stand over the empty safe casket like an open coffin.

"Don't just stand there! Where the hell is security? And get Tony Stark and Captain America on the line, dammit." I bark out power-walking to the conference room, alarm bells of my own resounding in my head. _Shit shit shit shit shit_.


	55. PART II: Chapter 16 - Cold

**16\. Cold – Sophie**

A knock on the door startles me while I'm finishing off my last piece of toast. Almost as soon as I open the door, it's as if a gust of wind billows past me and through the door.

"What the hell is going on?!" I throw my hands in the air as James flits through my apartment, shutting the blinds and throwing my clothes into a rucksack.  
"We're getting you out of here, right now." He doesn't look up  
"What do you mean? Why?" I shake my head, following in his frantic steps  
"Hydra. They'll be coming soon, we need to leave." James' almost pleading eyes meet mine  
"How do you know that?" I murmur  
"I put a tracker on that agent that night. He's getting closer."  
"We need to call Fury and the others-"  
"We can't. His signal originated from SHIELD's base."

My blood runs cold. It was happening, it was all happening again. I could try and pretend but I knew in my core that something bad had happened, or was going to happen. James' word was enough.

I run to my room and pull on a jacket and boots snatching up anything around me. James heads to the garage behind me.

I rush to my car, fumbling with the keys, I look up to make eye contact with the steering wheel. I look up again, slower this time. There, in my driver's seat, sat a man. His hands were poised on the steering wheel but his head was turned so that his eyes met flush with mine.

The devastatingly horrific realisation comes to me that this person wasn't moving. Their chest did not rise or fall and their pallor was pasty and cold. And then I recognise him. The usual smirk I imagine him with has disappeared and has been replaced with a look of terror that pierces me.

 _Zachary Snyder._

My hand flies to my mouth as I stifle a scream. Hands wrap over my mouth from behind me, before I retaliate, I realise its James.

"We're taking my bike."


	56. PART II: Chapter 17 - Guilt

**17\. Guilt – James**

The familiar feeling of her hands around my waist as I kick the ignition calms me for a moment. But that boy in her car had shocked the both of us into silence, if only I had stopped her from seeing it. Hydra was trying to scare her into a corner, make her come to them, make her feel guilty. It was working. Her tiny frame shakes against me, I can imagine her expressionless with tears rolling from her cheeks. I could only hope that Hydra hadn't suspected me which was unlikely, whoever this agent Hans was is prepared to murder anyone, he'd clearly been observing Sophie for a long time. He knew what made her weak: Guilt. Hopefully he didn't know that it was a weakness of mine as well.

Through the usual twists and off road turns, I manage to reach The Clearing. I'd set up base here and as far as I knew, I had made it undetectable to external systems. I help Sophie from the bike and pull the rucksack onto my back. She stands there for a while, dazed, before reaching for my arm and following me forward.


	57. PART II: Chapter 18 - Raincheck

**18\. Raincheck – Steve**

The tiny cellphone in my hands seems to shake on its own after I end the call, I had almost been tempted to throw the phone when I saw Fury's alias on the caller ID. I try and refocus my mind on what had just happened. I walk out of my apartment ready, I was supposed to meet Rose and I thought I'd never have to take any more rainchecks on her. Fury had better have a damned good explanation… though I couldn't think of anything that could possibly justify what he had done and what had happened this morning. A sense of unease grows at the pit of my stomach, the same unease I felt when Hydra was close by.

I slip my biking helmet on and rev the bike beneath me. They were all fools for letting this escalate, Fury should have listened. If someone managed to crack Safe 305, then nowhere was secure, SHIELD wasn't secure anymore and though I suspected it, the confirmation made the air around me thicker.


	58. PART II: Chapter 19 - Square One

**19\. Square One – Fury  
**  
When Steve enters the conference room, where I stand at the head of the table and Stark fiddles with a ballpoint pen, there are several moments of silence. Stark exhales loudly and stares at the table for a second before looking at Steve and then me and mouths the word ' _awkward_ '. Steve sighs deeply, _here we go_.

"This wouldn't have happened if SHIELD did what it was supposed to do." Steve glares at me, "Yet again, just like with the Tesseract this issue has escalated to a point where we can't-" I cut him off  
"Look, it isn't as straightforward as everyone thinks it is. At least we know that whoever stole it, originated from inside SHIELD. "  
"We have to find everything we can about how it was stolen! We don't know anything about this branch of Hydra! They've already infiltrated SHIELD!" Steve's voice rises for the first time  
"We can't make any stupid moves." I press the bridge of my nose  
"You know what Hydra's capable of. If there's anything worse than Doctor Johannes Schmidt then people are going to suffer-"  
"Ladies, please, you're both pretty. Now, if it's been stolen, then you know what's up next, don't you? The one person who's their first target." Stark scoffs  
"Her." Steve frowns  
"Ta daa. The one person that's in the most danger out of anyone on the planet. The missing piece and Hydra knows all about it now." Stark stares at me waiting for a response  
"For god sake." I reply.  
"Jarvis, pull up that location for me, will you?" Stark speaks to a small tablet in his pocket, "Now obviously being as smart as she is, there's no way she'd be where we think she'd be… I have a strange feeling she's not alone. I got a tracker sorted when she moved."  
"You've been tracking her all this time? How can you just-" Steve begins, angry  
"Not _her_. Just the person she happens to be with. See I wanted to keep an eye on him but…" Stark smirks as if he knows something no one else does, he wasn't wrong. "But just to be clear here, I'll find her, but bags not breaking the news." He grimaces at me.

 _Square one, dammit, we're back at square one_. I grit my teeth.


	59. PART II: Chapter 20 - The Cottage

**20\. The Cottage – Sophie**

James leads me into the small cottage-like building. The inside is simple, plainly carpeted flooring, a fireplace and a bed at the corner. Though I knew James must've hidden his weapons underground or away from the cottage just in case they were needed. He makes me pull on a bullet-proof vest under my clothes and hitches a gun to my leg, I couldn't believe he was trusting me with these gadgets but it meant that it may come down to a fight in which even I might make a difference.

"We'll go to the marketplace. I know someone there who can give us intel on Hydra."  
"And what if they are Hydra?"  
"They're above Hydra. And they might have that bread you like." James' lips hint at a grin as he pulls me onto the bike behind him, I almost frown in disbelief when I feel his lips brush my forehead.

We arrive at what looks like a typical Sunday market. Vegetables and fruits at colourful stands, advocated for by enthusiastic vendors. James stations me by a tomato stand and tells me not to move. It almost feels natural. James' hand squeezing mine and chuckling at my stubborn-ness, just being around him. It felt natural. If only... if only it could be like this, if we were no one we could get lost and never return. No Hydra, no SHIELD, no death, no guilt. If only.


	60. PART II: Chapter 21 - The Grey Man

**21\. – The Grey Man - Sophie**

A face seems to float amidst the crowd of bustling shoppers. It stays unsettlingly still, and I can almost feel the power of the glassy grey eyes on my skin. I find myself walking to his stall, a set of grey vegetables are laid out in front of me, bereft of colour and clay-like. The grey eyes lie on an old face, familiar though I had never seen him before. People begin to blur as if reality was lagging around us.

"What's happening?" I feel dizzy, the man holds up a transparent vial with fluid.  
"This vial here, contains a poison. But don't worry, it isn't dangerous or lethal at all. Not on its own."  
"What are you-" I step back startled, but he ruffles his grey suit and continues  
"Your current situation."  
"What of it?"  
"How long has it been since you've had a blood test, Sophie?"  
"A blood test?"  
"Of course you would not risk a blood test, what if someone got a hold of your unique DNA?"  
"Who the hell are you?" I maintain my voice in a low whisper, conscious of the people around me.  
"It was a bluff of course, I assumed you wouldn't present to a doctor yourself and I was right. If you had, you would have realised that this poison clings to your blood."  
"How could I have been poisoned?"  
"The air-freshener in your car, your favourite mints, the bottled water from the campus café you loved so much. They were all poisoned. Safe to say that those around you would have inhaled it too."  
"What're you saying? We're… infected?"  
"I told you, this poison is harmless on its own. But if I add this." He pulls out a deep blue vial and pours it into the transparent one, which immediately turns crimson. "It can burn through your pretty little veins until your blood bursts through your skin. Isn't it creative?"  
"Just who are you?"  
"I think the more important question Dr Carson: Can your ability to heal, cure you faster than this chemical can destroy you?" The man tips his hat, momentarily hiding his grey eyes as I comprehend what has happened. And in the time it takes for me to blink, the man is gone, the brown-eyed vendor in front of me stares blankly as if he's asked me a question and I responded inappropriately. People push and shove at me like I've been blocking their path for a while. James walks toward me soon after with a disappointed look and tells me he couldn't find who he was looking for. We make it back to the cottage and curl up on the humble bed after eating, without much conversation.

James' arms snake around me, even his bionic arm felt like safety over me now. His nose nuzzles my neck and his breath falls over my cheek. I don't tell him about the Grey Man, I would have to soon but even I didn't understand what this meant yet. If I've been inhaling this for so long without knowing –if everyone close to me has as well- what's to say that Hydra won't give us a dose of the active agent and kill us all? Why would the Grey Man tell me this, how did he know? What if he was deceiving us?

An unfamiliar blip sounds from somewhere, I sit up in the thatched bed to see James already up and searching for the source. The blip sounds periodically until there's a click. Then we hear his voice.

"Miss Carson. Hi, it's been a while." Fury's voice echoes around us.

"You're in a lot of danger, I'm sure you know that. Wherever you are, we need to speak with you, there's crucial information we need to share with you. I know you're thinking this might be tapped by Hydra but they already know and the fact that you don't know makes you very, very vulnerable."

I stare at James and he gives me a small nod. Whoever it was talking, maybe what they had to say could be important.

"I'll hear you out." I say.


	61. PART II: Chapter 22 - Stolen

**22\. Stolen – Fury**

Her figure materialises in hologram form, blue pixels rearrange to construct her face. Steve paces behind me as Stark, for once, is standing still fixated on the hologram.

"Where are you, Sophie? Who're you with?" I begin  
"That doesn't matter, right now I'm somewhere safe. But what the hell is going on, Nick? Why is Hydra after us again? There's no reason-"  
"I didn't destroy it." I close my eyes  
"You _what_?" Her pixelated eyes narrow and her voice becomes quiet  
"It was too drastic and it would have made no sense to destroy something as versatile as the RgX-"  
"WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU MEAN YOU DIDN'T DESTROY IT?!" She shouts, I can almost see her eyes fill with undiluted rage  
"Sophie, listen to me-"  
"You expect me to listen, after you completely ignored what I asked you to do?! Have you forgotten literally everything the RgX caused?! This is exactly like what happened when you people tried to control the Tesseract, why can't you just-"  
"We have to think of the greater good, Sophie. We need technology to advance so that-"  
" _Advancement_? Oh okay then, so where the hell is it, _Nick_?" Her voice is barely audible but dangerously calm, Steve looks away  
"It's been stolen." I purse my lips, hearing Stark clear his throat in amusement.


	62. PART II: Chapter 23 - Company

**23\. Company – Sophie**

"It's been _stolen_." I repeat quietly, staring at the ground beneath me waiting for Fury to tell me he was joking. He doesn't. Several moments of silence pass as I quell the anger threatening to burn through me.

"I can't even tell who the real bad guy is anymore… I told you to destroy the RgX because I couldn't do it."  
"We're here and now, you're in danger, anyone and anything could be after you." Fury says  
"It's nothing new then." I shoot back  
"You said you couldn't destroy the RgX… why?" Stark probes  
"Because every time I looked at it, I saw every face I could have saved with that thing. And there I was asking Fury to destroy the Frankenstein I didn't have the guts to face. And yet again, because I was a coward, we're at Hydra's mercy again."  
"You're not a coward, Sophie…" Steve's quiet voice issues from behind Fury, "You need to tell us where you are so that we can keep you safe."  
"I'm safe where I am."  
"Tell us more about the company you're keeping, Miss Carson." Stark pipes up and I feel anxiety wash over me, "Just remember that company can be often mistaken for trust, Sophie."  
"In the last week, my _company_ has done more for my and the world's wellbeing than SHIELD in the last five years. I'm not a child." I don't stop there, I may as well tell them everything. "This might also be a bad time to say that I'm not safe anywhere, not even with you, not even in my own body. Hydra's been poisoning me all this time. If I so much as ingest a drop of the active agent, I'll be dead in minutes." I close the light switch on the hologram projector as their faces contort in disbelief.

I stand there for several moments, processing what had just happened before James' hand comes to rest on my shoulder cautiously. I turn around and bury my face into his chest, feeling his strong arms pull me in. He holds me for a moment before holding me at arm's length.

"What poison, Sophie?" he frowns  
"I don't know how to explain it, I just got a sign and I might have misinterpreted it completely but I have this gut feeling that it's the truth. Please believe me, we're all in danger." I shake my head,

"That you most definitely are." Before I can look to see where the third voice issued from, James has me behind his back. The man in the navy bodysuit. The RgX lies in _his_ hand, he tosses it into the air and catches it several times before tucking it into his waistband.  
"That night, it was you." I step forward  
"Commendable memory, Sophie! I also gather you know what I want." He patronises  
"I won't give it to you."  
"It seems you already know about the poison. Tell me, do you believe it to be true? Or do you think I'm bluffing? It's a very difficult decision."  
"I don't care if you kill me."  
"But it's not just you… After Lucy I'm sure you would have learned that it's not all about you, you're gambling with the lives of everyone around you. Your mother, your father, your classmates? Zachary was always quite the talker, wasn't he? Not anymore I suppose. And Kara? A shame, I didn't even plan on killing her." He grins smugly, a thousand knives burrow their way into my chest injecting guilt and regret through me, I keep my composure even though my heart is breaking inside me, _I can't let him win_. My breathing slows and my mind sifts through ways to escape the cabin like a calculator. The tension and the silence drags on until I know it's too much. The agent begins to smirk.

 _BOOM._

There goes the roof of the cabin. Above us floats a jet black helicopter of some kind, that knocks off the four walls of the room which had stood up in protest. James pulls his mask over his face. The vehicle comes to rest on the carpet, billowing dust and debris in all directions. I peek out from behind James' shoulder to see the door open. In all this confusion, the Hydra agent hadn't moved a single inch, he seems completely un-phased. I step out towards the door slowly.

"It's good having a tracking system isn't it?" Stark steps off the helicopter and points his beam at the agent. I turn toward the agent after a glimmer catches the corner of my eye, but it's too late. A rough arm pulls me into a choke-hold and a gun is pressed firmly to the base of my spine. Everyone pauses in shock and disbelief at the speed of it all, including me.

"Let her go, and we won't need to shoot you down." Fury appears from behind Stark  
"Neither of you move, or Miss Carson will suffer." The agent purrs, his arm over my neck  
"Just wait." I caution them, the RgX on his waist band catches my eyes and I try to get James' attention  
"Let her go and we'll give you the algorithm." Fury bargains, I cue him to continue talking while I urge James to look at the locket.

I feel the agent's grip slacken momentarily, that was all I needed.

I swing my left elbow into his gut and reach for the RgX with my right hand, I snatch it from his hip and throw it to James. In the aftermath, the Hydra agent catches my recoiling left arm and sinks his teeth into my hand. James' face contorts in rage as he runs to me, but the agent pushes me away and begins to run, Fury fires several shots after him but my eyes are fixated on my hand, as are James'.

Spatters of deep crimson erupt from my hand, incisions draw themselves over my skin and leak blood. The pain of the burning and slicing of my flesh throws me to the ground as James catches me. _The poison_. I feel it progressing to my wrist and I knew what had to be done.

"James- t-tie it!" I push at him as he rips cloth from my shirt tying it in the middle of my arm, the pain was blindingly sharp and debilitating. "C-ut cut m-me" I beg, his eyes hesitate but his hands pull out a smooth blade. "James p-lease". He sets the starkly cold steel at my wrist and positions his bionic hand against the blunt top, As the pain continues toward the knife edge, I see him close his eyes and push down with inhuman force. The crunch of bone and grind of flesh sends new waves of excruciating pain through me, I didn't know if my mind could handle the amount of damage. I see my hand lying a centimetre farther from my wrist than it should be, and James' hands covered in red before I black out.

"Sophie… wake up, love."

 _It's him._

"Sophie, please."

 _Everything hurts, Lucy._

"Sophie."

My eyes struggle to peel themselves open against the bright lighting above me. It takes several moments to refocus and for the excruciating pain in my hand to reach my senses. Without voluntary control, tears sting my eyes and I begin to scream. There was an unbearable burning, a never-ending slicing sensation in my left wrist, like someone was twisting my hand until the joints split open and the bones were ground to powder. Warmth covers me like a blanket, it's James' arms. I feel consciousness dangling like a thinned thread. I hear someone yelling 'Morphine' from somewhere. Beads of perspiration cover me, and I begin to shiver uncontrollably, the numbness lulling me into unconsciousness.

"Sophie, stay with me. Don't give in. I'm here."

I feel my body stabilising, my breathing slows down and my sight becomes clearer. I can feel the bed beneath me. I notice the bag of Morphine which was quite literally jacked up to my IV. James looks as if he's stayed by my side through this before. He reaches out slowly and smoothens my hair, looking relieved. I focus on his face which had a mask over it, I understood why he kept it on, it just felt too foreign to me. As if he knew I would try to ask what happened, he begins to speak.

"We caught the agent. But that doesn't matter right now, you just need to heal. We have time, Sophie." He nods as a wave of fatigue washes over me, his hand on my forehead lulls me to sleep again.

When I wake, James is still there by my side. A nurse is tweaking my IV and writing on her clipboard.

"You're bone is regrowing and your muscles and tissues are regenerating, but it's a slow process and it's going to cause you a lot of pain." The nurse says sympathetically  
"Thought as much. At least it wasn't a limb, now _that_ would've depleted your Morphine stores completely." I raise my brows at James, who apparently doesn't want to partake in my dark humour. Come to think of it, I'd almost forgotten that I had my hand cut off… I knew the RgX would help it grow again but I couldn't imagine how I had survived the pain, the memories had turned black in my mind.

"He wasn't bluffing about the poison. He bit me, which either means that he had a capsule of the activating agent… or his body has the activating agent. We can't allow any contact with him." I frown feeling a dull throb in my wrist  
"He's in isolation right now." James states  
"Did Fury and the others question you while I was out?"  
"No, they kept their distance, I won't take off my mask or speak in front of them. They remember me from the last mission, but out of Hydra and me right now, they have a bigger issue on their hands."

Stark billows through the infirmary doors with his eyes trained on James and I. He says something to the nurse who nods at me, James scoops me into his arms painlessly, or I was too drugged up to sense any, and sets me onto a fancy looking wheelchair.

"You're gonna want to see this." Stark waggles his brow sarcastically and leads us, though I was curious I knew, whatever this was, it was something I most definitely did not want to see.

The Hydra agent stood caged inside a solid glass cell, his face covered by a mask of some sort. Fury and the others had managed to catch him in the aftermath of our confrontation several days ago. Steve notices us as we arrive and walks over to me.

"I'm sorry Sophie" He apologizes  
"There's no need, Steve, we had no choice." I smile weakly  
"He's been kept under maximum security."  
"Have you interrogated him?"  
"We will."  
"Don't use violence. That's exactly what they want." I frown, trying not to let it get to me no matter how much I wanted him dead. Almost as if he'd tapped into our conversation, the Hydra agent looks up at me, I could feel the slimy smirk under his mask. I feel dizzy.

"You're not strong enough yet to stay out here. You need to rest." Steve pats my shoulder and James turns me around and heads back to the infirmary.


	63. PART II: Chapter 24 - Breaking Point

**24\. Breaking Point - PIERCE**

 _Several days earlier._

"You're going to _let_ them apprehend you?" Pierce massages his temples trying to find logic in the boy's words  
"Precisely, I will bide my time there until she panics." Agent Hans states  
"You're counting on that."  
"I know her too well now that I can predict how she will respond. She won't know whether I have the poison's catalyst or if it is already where her loved ones are. The threat will drive her to a breaking point but she will ensure no harm comes to me."  
"You sound very sure of yourself, what if she calls your bluff?"  
"She won't. Because she doesn't know which is the truth. And she won't harm me, because the guilt that eats away at her makes her weak. She will tell me the genesis algorithm and I will bring Hydra to its former glory. Her loved ones will die as soon as I trigger the capsules. She will be punished for what she has done." He runs his gloved finger tips over a small black box on his waist band, it had a circular blue button at the top. "All _you_ have to do is make sure that SHIELD, Sophie, the Winter Soldier and I are in the same place at the same time."

"All I need you to do once they take away my weapons and contact devices, is periodically kill off SHIELD agents." Hans continues  
"What good is that? Push suspicions onto me?" Pierce scoffs,  
"No. The opposite actually. The poison is something only a few of us know about. If they believe that I'm the one killing while I'm imprisoned, they'll get more and more afraid. They'll have to confront me. I will get my way."

Pierce analyses the boy's face and sighs deeply. He had no choice at this point but to leave the mission entirely up to Hans. As he nods and takes his leave, Pierce feels something unsettling at the pit of his stomach. If Hans was captured and kept in the same place that he was, would Fury be able to make the link? Would he realise? Or did Fury know all along, and this opportunity would allow him to capture Pierce once and for all?

Pierce shakes the thought and calls Fury.

"Pierce." Fury's even toned voice threatens Pierce  
"Nick, I have a location on Carson that you and Stark might want to have a look at."  
"You tapped into Stark's tracker?"  
"No, I guess I ran into it."  
"We'll take a look. Keep your eyes open." Fury grunts before switching out.

 _Please, don't fail me._


	64. PART II: Chapter 25 - Unveiling

**25\. Unveiling – Sophie**

Some weeks had gone by, it startled me how calm and collected everyone at the base was, what with a murderer from Hydra among us. I wasn't allowed to see the agent until my hand had healed more and I could walk properly. The agent hadn't made any moves or answered many questions from SHIELD, his weapons and tools had been confiscated and he had no contact with anyone or anything. _Or perhaps he did_. But that would mean that there was someone in SHIELD working as a double agent. I worried for my family, I didn't know what they knew of my whereabouts or what happened, Fury must have dealt with it but I knew this was putting them through hell. This agent could have poisoned them as well and we could do nothing but hope it wasn't too late. My body was starting to heal at an unbelievable pace, my hand was weak but it was nearly done regenerating. Everyday James told me about what had happened with the agent, today he came into my room and started pacing.

"James, tell me what happened?" I try to calm him  
"Whoever this agent is, he seems to know nearly everything about you almost as if he were a friend. Did you see anything suspicious?"  
"You're questioning my friends?" Irritation bubbles through me  
"Are you sure they're your friends?"  
"Things are different, especially since you left."  
"Hydra's the same, everything they want from you is the same." _That did it._  
"Why did you leave me?! Why did you disappear?!" I felt angry that I was behaving so childishly but I wasn't about to stop yet. "There was no one left that I could talk to, if you wanted to leave then why did you come back?! Just so you can leave again and disappear, not giving a crap about how it screws everyone else up!"  
"Sophie-" James reaches for me, I pull away sharply  
"Then go! Just leave again, I'm used to it! Why should I be worried about Hydra? Hell, they never left me and you did." Tears sting at my eyes, I brush them roughly away feeling a pang of guilt for what I'd said.

James reaches, I pull back again but his bionic arm pushes the small of my back sending me into him. Before I can draw breath to protest his lips crush into mine and he doesn't pull away until I'm dizzy.

"James-" I begin, but his lips silence me again and I feel my resolve crumbling  
"I keep putting you in danger, Sophie. I keep dragging you into the aftermath of my mistakes. I know my life can't be normal. All I want is for yours to be happy, as normal as it can be. I can't leave you because-" His breath is uneven and impatient, I rest my hand on his neck. "You are everything I have, everything I want to protect. I know I should stay out of your life but I'm selfish."

I tilt his bowed head up and look into his sad blue eyes. _In another life, maybe we could be normal, in this life we only had each other, no one else understood._ I know that I love him. I was afraid for my family, the few friends I had and _him._ I couldn't lose them. I wouldn't lose them.

James guides me down to the conference room for the first time since I was consigned to bed rest. Steve smiles as I walk in. Fury and Stark nod at me and frown.

"What's going on, Nick?" I probe  
"There have been some developments we need to show you." He gives me a look that makes me feel as though I was in trouble.

We walk down to the agent's isolation chamber to see a guard holding the agent in front of him. All of a sudden I feel uneasy, James won't look at me. None of them will.

"His identity has recently been matched with a kid who graduated from med school in your class." The guard pushes the agent roughly in front of us all, but I knew he was speaking to me.

He pulls away the agent's navy blue face mask to reveal him. The earth seems to crack beneath my feet and I feel myself falling as the guard continues.

"According to our records on your classmates, he also went by the alias of Keith Harmon."


	65. PART II: Chapter 26 - Hans Keifer

**26\. Hans Keifer – Sophie**

"Agent Hans Keifer. A German Hydra agent, trained from childhood in espionage and assassination. He has 235 confirmed killings, not including bombings and casualties. We compared his blood samples and it turns out that he's an illegitimate descendent of Johannes Schmidt." Fury states, I see Steve and James twitch at the mention of his name. We're all sitting in the conference room, the tension is thick around us. My face remains stony.  
"It seems that he's the one that told Hydra about the RgX. No one from our side seems to have known but Fury." Steve frowns,  
"You're implying that I give away federal secrets to criminals like cookie recipes?" Fury sighs  
"I didn't say it was you. But his alias is how he got all this information about Sophie and her affiliation with SHIELD." Stark crosses his arms, and all eyes are suddenly on me.  
"Maybe that's what they want us to think, Keifer couldn't have acted alone, he would have needed a way into SHIELD." Stark calculates

"I'm the one to blame, aren't I?" a sarcastic whisper exits my mouth as I stand, the others immediately turn to me. James cautions me to stay  
"Sophie, that's not what I meant to say…" Stark shakes his head. I stand.

Despite their warnings and pleas I storm to _his_ cell. No one would stop me.

"You lying bastard!" I slam my right fist onto the glass with a muted thud, to which Keifer looks up  
"Hey there Soph. Long time no see." The criminal chuckles sadistically in Keith's voice  
"Why?!" I scream at the glass  
"Because just as you took everything from me, I will take it all from you." He brings his face closer to mine. "You could stop all of it, all you need to do is tell me the algorithm, and I won't kill every last person you love."  
"That night at the bar… my drink." I question him shakily  
"You noticed. Just a sedative to subdue you. However, Kara ended up drinking it and I killed her instead."  
"No…" I feel my head shaking and my sobs catching at the back of my throat  
"She was a nuisance and it wasn't difficult, no one even looked for her until the night after the party."  
"The constant calls when I was in New York?" I feel my anger sinking into guilt  
"To make sure Hydra knew where you were and where you wouldn't be."  
"Zachary…"  
"To show you that anyone and everyone around you could be taken down and you could do nothing about it. I was going to go for your family, it's why I poisoned their blood like yours. But I imagined they'd be good bargaining chips at a time like this." His eyes narrow as he shrugs. I wanted him dead. I wanted him to suffer against every fibre in me that told me it wouldn't change anything.  
"You're a monster." I say, the emotion stripped from my voice  
"Just. Like. You." He takes several steps toward the glass and gives me a smile of comradery, it makes me sick to my core.

The others have arrived but they keep their distance. James reaches out to me.

"You'll realise soon enough that the RgX was only one part of it, Sophie. There's more…so, so much more." Keifer looks at me with pity  
"You're a homicidal maniac, there's nothing but madness to you."  
"Doctor Schmidt, one of the greatest minds to walk this planet and you chose to rebel. You chose to take away everything I had been working to give him and you threw it all away."  
"No one but him would have benefitted, you fool. He didn't care about any of you. It wouldn't have mattered if you wanted him to acknowledge you as family… he didn't want you."  
"You mutt!" He slams his hands against the glass with surprising force before collecting himself and pacing away. "You're forgetting that this is exactly where I want to be. When they come, and you won't know it, but you will suffer the most, Carson."

"Sophie, enough, he's getting you charged up." James' muffled voice cautions me to back away.

"Oh she doesn't know?" Keifer interrupts, James' jaw line hardens  
"There's no point in trying to mess with our heads anymore." I spit  
"Oh isn't there? Don't you want to know the truth? The truth about your ally?"  
"Not from you." My hand hovers over the sound muting button  
"So he hasn't told you? Really, you put your faith and trust in someone you know nothing about?"  
"Go to hell." I state  
"That's where he sent Lucy."

His words are like an icy whisper, filled with malice and satisfaction. I slam my hand down onto the button. His smile is the last thing I see before the glass darkens to black. I turn around to face James, my eyes lock with his for a moment and I know. I know that he knew something. James follows me quietly back to my room and shuts the door behind us.

"I have to tell you everything." He says in a measured tone  
"You didn't think it important to before? What does this have to do with Lucy?" I fold my arms  
"It was me."  
"What?" I narrow my eyes in confusion  
"I was the one who told Pierce where to find her."  
"You didn't do that willingly, James, you're letting that bastard get to you."  
"No, I wasn't forced, I wasn't being controlled."  
"What… are you saying?"  
"I knew the only way to stop Hydra, would be if you unlocked the RgX. I knew you'd rather die before giving it to them. Lucy was the only option I had to make sure you'd comply."  
"You… used her as _bait_?" I feel as if I'm going to throw up,  
"I didn't intend for her to die, I didn't know Schmidt would-"  
"Get out of my sight." I can barely breathe, it's as if I'm numb. The door clicks shut behind him as tears stream endlessly from my eyes. A moment later, something in my periphery shifts.

The Grey Man. He steps forward and I become aware that everything around me was tinted with a hue of grey, the bed beneath me, the furniture and windows, even the glass of water beside me seemed to be filled with cement. He takes a seat across from my bed and begins to chuckle.  
"How did you find me?" I ask  
"It's not very difficult when you're filled with so much unrest. It's like a beacon." He raises a brow as I frown. "I'm almost sure you haven't given up on the Winter Soldier. You know things would have ended in much more bloodshed if he hadn't acted in the way he had, he had faith in you all along. Yet, I can't understand why you won't see him. It's exactly the kind of rift Hydra wants to cause between you and SHIELD."  
"Lucy wouldn't have had to die. They tortured her." My throat thickens  
"How many hundreds more would have died if she hadn't agreed to this mission." He states, there's pin-drop silence.  
"Agreed to _what_ mission?" I whisper  
"The Winter Soldier informed her that rescuing you and your technology may come at great cost. She knew what she wanted to do, she was aware of the risks involved."  
"She consented-"  
"Yes."

I feel queasy and my breathing shallows. All of the events leading up to Schmidt's death…they came as coincidences and surprises to me, and yet they were all predetermined, all planned. I was starting to feel as if the Grey Man was inside my mind… like a part of my conscience that solved the questions I had, whether or not he was separate or a figment of my imagination, I didn't have any doubt his voice was the truth. I gather myself from the bed and struggle to pull my boots on, half tumbling out of the door.

 _Oh Lucy why._

Beautiful.

That's probably the only word to describe him right now. I reach the top of the last flight of stairs to see James, who sits dangerously poised over the balcony ledge, his leg swinging lazily from the thirty-fourth story tier. He still had his mask on, in an effort to keep his anonymity. He looks up at me for a moment before turning back to the lights of the city below us.

"Did Lucy _know_?" I walk slowly to him,  
"It shouldn't have mattered, I asked her to do this." He continues staring below  
"She agreed to this, knowing what could happen."  
"She did, but she suffered because I underestimated Hydra."  
"I'm sorry, James, you and Lucy did this to save everyone. I understand that now. I blamed you."  
"I deserved it."  
"No."

I trace my fingers carefully over his shoulder, wanting to be closer to him but knowing I didn't deserve it. He stays still. I dare to let my body rest against his, my cheek on his neck. Looking through my eyelashes I try to decipher his expression, without much luck. I kiss his neck softly and nuzzle back into it, gauging his reaction. He touches his forehead to mine and goes back to brooding. This time I sit up on the ledge in front of him and put my arms around his neck, tilting his face towards mine. James raises an eyebrow at me, to which I pull at his mask and push my body into his. He pulls away.

"What's wrong?"  
"Nothing, I just want to be close to you. All Keifer was doing was creating discord between us, trying to shift the focus from the real enemy." I lean into him and gently remove his mask  
"Sophie, listen, we can't-"  
"Please don't stop me this time. I pushed you away and I can't do that anymore." I shake my head and let my lips fall onto his, he stiffens for a moment and then pulls me closer.

The warm city breeze whirls past us as James carries me in his arms to his room. The moonlight illuminates his bionic arm, the cool metal sends shivers over me as he slides my shirt over my head and tosses it away. I tug at his shirt, he pauses to take it off, the light in the room seems to reflect off each chiselled muscle on his chest and stomach, his belt loop wraps lazily around his waist. In this moment, nothing else around us mattered, only him. His body feels firm and strong against mine, the touch of our skin makes me melt into him. Suddenly, I can't get close enough to him, the clothes between us the space between us felt unbearable. I wrap my legs around his hips and my arms around his neck, I hear him chuckle, to which I instinctively scowl.

"Slow, Sophie." He smiles, staring directly into my eyes with a look he's never given me before. It makes me blush and fold my arms over my chest and the light around us irritated me for making everything so… _visible_. "Don't hide from me now." He pulls my arms aside and kisses my neck, making his way to the middle of my chest and cupping my breasts in his hands. I let my hands run through his soft hair as his lips reach my hips and descend lower. His breath caresses the inside of my thigh, then the other. As if it wasn't under my control, my body jerks backward when his lips fall between my legs. His eyes meet mine and his hands pull my body closer to him. The sensations make my breathing uneven and erratic. I pull him back to me and I know he can see the desperation in my eyes, because his weight falls over me and the pressure at my hips rises. I hold my breath as he pulls me closer.

I begin to feel myself shaking and my breathing shallows, familiar panic begins to rise at the back of my throat. James holds me tightly to him.

"J-James I-" I stutter  
"Shh, it's me, Sophie. It's just me. It's only me. I love you." He smooths my hair and softens his grip around me, I feel myself relaxing against him.

As my breathing evens out, I can feel James against me, the pressure was becoming too great to bear. I clutch at his back, restless and lustful. His breathing shallows and a moan escapes from my lips as I feel him press into me.

"SOPHIE!" Several hard thumps sound against the room door, making James and I all but bungee jump off the bed and into our clothes.  
"What do you want, Steve?!" I snarl back at the door trying to shimmy my pants on  
"Sorry, you just weren't in your room so I thought you'd be with _him_. Fury's called a meeting, from what I can tell, it's important." I hear Steve shuffle down the hallway.

I look back at James and he looks back at me before we both dissolve into irritated laughter. It felt so... natural.

We both reach Fury's office, where Stark stands with his back to us. The sombre mood in the room was sobering and tense. Three infirmary beds lie in front of us. The previously white covers over three sunken bodies were drenched with shades of red and rusty crimson.

"They had the poison in their blood. Somehow, Keifer triggered the catalyst and killed them." Fury frowns, some sadness in his tone  
"But he has no contact with them, how could the catalyst have reached them?" Stark shakes his head in confusion for the first time. "How can he kill them without doing anything?"  
"We have to assume that everyone here is poisoned." Fury states,  
"We're sitting ducks right now." Stark is exasperated.

"What if it is all a bluff? What if there's someone else triggering the catalyst _for_ Keifer?" I raise my voice, there wasn't a thread of contact Keifer had with the outside world physically. I felt like I was starting to think like the Grey Man  
"A mole?" Steve asks as I shake my head once  
"A double agent." I confirm, Fury's expression darkens.


	66. PART II: Chapter 27 - Bystander

**27\. Bystander – Fury**

"A double agent?" Pierce frowns in confusion  
"Yes. Someone who's had contact with Keifer the whole time." I purse my lips  
"How is that possible? We've tightened security and cut off all links he has to the outside."  
"I don't know. Maybe us tightening security in here is what made it possible."  
"Surely, Sophie doesn't think it's a SHIELD agent." He raises his brows in incredulity  
"Actually, she's convinced. She knew the person that Keifer has been in contact with. But she thinks that some of her memory was wiped after she was captured by Hydra. It's not the first time. Rumlow's files were completely blanked three years ago, he didn't leave SHIELD and he wasn't on a mission." I follow a pacing Pierce with my eye  
"There's someone who has unlimited access to the main data bases then?" Pierce questions  
"I'm afraid so. Someone who I trust. Someone who's been sitting on the sidelines watching the whole time." I nod as I leave the office room.

I was hoping I hadn't dropped too many hints. Then again, I had a list of suspicions when it came to SHILED. Having a list made it easier to keep my enemies closer than ever, even if it was extremely dangerous, it was the only way to make Hydra take action.

 **27\. Bystander**

Fury leaves the room as Pierce remains a tense statue. The pact between them was one of convenience and ignorance, none of them trusted each other, but this remained the only way to connect SHIELD and Hydra. Not all of their battles were ones of action.

Pierce knew that Rumlow would have become a hindrance to the mission, his hot-blooded tendencies and violent nature caused too much commotion. The fool was misguided in his pride and because of that, it was a mundane task to have him murdered and his files cleared. As for Sophie, her memories were wiped when SHIELD treated her injuries after Schmidt's downfall. There was no way she could continue with the knowledge she had of Pierce and interact with SHIELD. So far Pierce had kept away from her, in hopes that he wouldn't trigger the return of those memories. Killing three SHIELD agents without being caught was one thing, but it wouldn't be long before the formalities were over and he was found out.

The gold locket clinks in Pierce's pocket, before anything else, he had to return it. He had to complete the mission.


	67. PART II: Chapter 28 - Solace

_**A/N: I'm sososo sorry for not writing for so long! Today was the first day I got off work and uni! I've missed this story and I apologise if there are errors and inconsistencies, I feel like I've been so out of the loop. I hope you enjoy reading these last few chapters 3**_

 **28\. Solace – James**

It was getting more and more difficult to deal with Pierce around Sophie. This whole stalemate was making me overwhelmingly anxious. I knew SHIELD knew who I was, what I had done. But I also knew that Fury needed me to keep quiet about Pierce for Sophie's sake, it was a silent pact, made wordlessly the moment we met. Steve hadn't made any attempt to speak with me directly, as I suspected, Fury wouldn't have wanted to inform him of my identity it would cause unnecessary conflict… Though it felt as there lay a weight on my chest, it held me from reaching out to a dear friend, who I suspect needed me now more than ever.

Sophie lies across my chest, snoring quietly, her bandaged hand lies tucked near her cheek and her other wrapped around my side. I run my fingers through her soft brown hair, watching her eyebrows relax from their usual furrow. Compared to the other times we had been alone, this was the most peaceful. We weren't on the run, we weren't imprisoned, she was safe in my arms.

"I love you." I sigh, letting my lips kiss her hair,  
" _I love you too_." I look down surprised to see Sophie's chocolate brown eyes staring back at me  
"Shh, back to bed, love." I push her back into my chest but she pulls away  
"I don't feel like sleeping. I want to stay awake, Even if it's for a moment, I get to be with you without having to worry about being separated from you. I want to remember it all." She smiles  
"You need rest, your hand needs it and your mind does too."  
"Talk to me, James" her delicate murmur of my name sends a shiver through me, instinctively I kiss her  
"Rest, love." I quickly pull back, _this isn't the time to escalate things_  
"Don't stop now" Sophie chuckles draping her arms around my neck,  
"Don't push it, Miss Carson." I caution, I must have been weak with my warning as it garners a scoff from Sophie  
"Sorry, but I don't feel like listening, sir." Her lips caress my neck, the jolt it sends through me is enough to make me push her to arms-length,  
"You have no idea do you? How hard it is for me to control myself when you're lying right next to me each night wearing nothing but a shirt." I frown at her in exasperation  
"Don't control yourself then. What if this is the last night I've got left-" Her lips fall over mine, I don't push her away.

I let my lips crush into hers, I feel her kiss me back. My hands roam her body, her legs, her hips, her back, her breasts… I try to maintain focus on my bionic side, I couldn't forget that if I was careless I could still hurt her. She wraps her legs around my waist, I could feel her heat radiating into me. I let my hands drop to her thighs, hearing her soft moans sent waves of lust through me that threatened to make me lose my composure. My teeth graze her neck as my fingers slide into her, she gasps sharply before digging her nails into my shoulders and pulling me closer. I'm careful not to put my weight on her bandaged hand. Her breath is hot and shallow on my neck as I keep her against me, her fingers claw at my back challenging my self-control. I feel her moans and kisses become more and more desperate, her hand trails my waist and her fingers wrap around the length of me. The ecstasy of her touch renders me helpless, her lips kiss my neck and her movements almost send me over the edge. I pull her on top of me in frustration, the feel of her against me, the soft wetness of her against my erection was unbearable. I probe her slowly, her breath catches and reality hits me.

"Wait, I can't, I don't want to get you-" I look away in an attempt to distract myself from my lust  
"I can't… get, pregnant." She says in a matter-of-fact tone  
" _What_?" I hold myself up above her so I can see her expression,

 _What did she just say to me?_

"I-I've had surgery…since-"  
" _W-why_?" I feel everything around me crumbling.  
"I couldn't let them use that against me again. I wouldn't take that chance ever again. They could have me, but not- not anyone else."  
"S-Sophie, no... Please, God, forgive me." I feel dull tears burn in my eyes for the woman I love. I pull her small body against me and hold her tightly as if she would break into a thousand pieces if I let go.  
"James, I've made my decision and I've made my peace with it, nothing can destroy me like that again. It doesn't change what I feel for you." She begins to kiss me again but I can't process what I had just discovered. "James, you're all I need to stay in one piece. Please, don't move away from me." Her words were enough for me to lay her gently on her back beneath me.  
"Never, never again will I ever leave you alone." I promise her soft brown eyes as my tears fall on her cheeks, I intertwine my fingertips with hers. She looks up at me, her eyes glistening with an emotion I can't name.

I nudge her slender legs on either side of me, I make sure her body is ready for me. Her quiet sighs and moans, her half-smile when I touch her, her small frame beneath me… a different kind of desire washes over me. I wanted to protect her, to love her and be bound to her in every way. I needed her as she needed me. She was my solace. My worry dissipates as her arms wrap around my neck beckoning me closer. I press slowly into her, the warmth of her body tight against me. Her brows furrow in discomfort, I let my kisses distract her, the frown disappears. I push in deeper, letting her accommodate me. A sharp gasp comes from Sophie as I push myself in entirely, I hold her tightly to my chest until she relaxes around me. Her shallow breaths deepen as my hips roll into hers, her body becomes less stiff and her grip around my shoulders become caresses. The heat between us slickens, her body gradually tightening around the length of me, I feel my thrusts become deeper, though I try to hold back I lose control of my body. Her moans build to silence and I feel her tense, but her arms and eyes beg me not to stop. My thrusts become forceful as her legs hook onto my hips, she shudders suddenly, a gasp escaping her while her back arches under me. I hold her thighs and take my release after hers.

My head rests against her stomach, our chests rise and fall heavily until we catch our breath. Eventually she falls asleep in my arms, the usual crease in her brow smoothening.

 _I love her_. God, I love her more than I thought I had the capacity. Everything that damned me to hell, my memories, my past, she raised me up. She forgave me even when I broke her apart. Panic settles over me as I hold Sophie's small body against me. Once this reached its climax, what if SHIELD tried to apprehend me in the aftermath and separate me from _her_? Would we all be alive for that? I couldn't let that happen. I wouldn't let it happen. I couldn't be without her anymore. I didn't want to wear a mask, I didn't want Hydra's legacy of death and suffering. I wanted a life with her.


	68. PART II: Chapter 29 - Minds

**29\. Minds – Sophie**

 _A gunshot sounds as I hold Lucy's shaking body, I see someone. Someone who shuffles away from the source of the sound clutching their leg, blood pooling where Schmidt had shot him._

I wake and sit up in my bed. James sleeps peacefully beside me, his arm around my waist. I snuggle back into him and pull the warm covers back over me. I'd been having this dream the last couple of nights, but I couldn't envisage who the person was. Despite not being able to remember a face, I knew that this person was important, a missing link. My mind went blank whenever I tried recall that memory.

Over the next couple of days, several other SHIELD agents were killed. The same injuries and cause of death. I had Fury move my family out of the state, whatever safety margin I could get would help delay Hydra. My hand was more or less regenerated to its former size, the tissues and muscles were still growing and it would be a while before the hand would be of any use, it resembled a normal hand which lacked skin. Fury and the others refused to let me or anyone else near Keifer physically, we had to assume that the activating agent for the poison was somehow inside him. Keifer refused to answer questions, spitting out riddles to keep us at bay and make us fearful of how much control he really had over us all. It was dangerous, and I wasn't one hundred percent sure of it, but I was going to call his bluff. This situation had been at a stalemate too long.

Keifer had made us all believe that he had a back-up plan for every possible situation we threw at him. That would mean there was nothing we could do to change the outcome as he'd already countered it. There was one scenario in my head that told me he truly did have overwhelming control over me and the ones dear to me, if my decision now was a mistake he would smite every last one of us. But. In the other scenario, maybe Hans has no control over anything physical at all, he was pitting his resolve against mine. In that case, this was a battle of psyche, a battle of minds. And Hans was betting that I would crumble before him.

"Another one?" I ask Fury who had his back to me in the infirmary  
"Another two." He replies sternly

James and I glance at each other before another pair of eyes catch mine. I had previously heard about Alexander Pierce but I had never seen him in person before. Mr Pierce appears from behind Fury and smiles at me softly, he also gives James a lingering glance. I don't look, but I notice James is extremely tense beside me.

"Miss Carson, pleasure to finally meet you. I'm sorry it's under such circumstances." He says  
"Likewise Mr Pierce. Where did you find the two agents?" I ask, noticing Fury's eyes narrow at me. Anxiety bubbles through me as his cold hand shakes mine.  
"Near Nick's office"  
" _You_ found them?"  
"We had a meeting and I happened to stumble across these poor men, I don't know what to say to their families." He shakes his head, unease twists in my stomach and I'm unsure why. James stands as still as stone beside me. I notice Fury and James staring at each other pensively.  
"Have you met Hans yet?"  
"No I haven't, I think he's too dangerous to speak with at the moment. He might trigger more terrible events. Maybe he'll stop if we try to compromise with him."  
" _Compromise?_ He'll kill anyone and everyone to get his way. There's no point in any compromise." I stare at Pierce incredulously  
"I'm just saying that there needn't always be a violent way forward. Cooperation is key, isn't it, Miss Carson?" He pats my shoulder and leaves, James' hands are balled into fists and his bionic arm lets out a quiet screech as he relaxes it. I also feel something stir in the pit of my stomach, _why is this feeling so familiar, why am I do I feel like something is going wrong?_

"What was that all about, you two?" I fold my arms once the doors close behind Pierce.  
"That's not important right now. I'm interested in what you think about Hans' motives." Fury and James break their eye contact and James places a gentle but protective hand at the small of my back.  
"I don't know if I'm right at all about this. But my gut, it's telling me that Hans is betting that my guilt will get the better of me. In all the time we've spoken, I've only felt guilt, he's trying to break me down."

I managed to explain everything as believably as possible though it bubbled down to the fact that I believed Hans was messing with our heads. Fury didn't change his expression throughout, James frowned.

It had occurred to me when Pierce suggested we offer him a 'compromise' that a compromise was everything Hans desired, it meant that I would open the RgX even for a moment to save the lives he claimed I couldn't protect. I had tried to save Lucy once by doing the same thing. Hans had never previously offered me the exchange of their lives for the RgX, he always assumed I would be weak, and from the lives Hydra had taken already he would be willing to gamble a great deal on my weakness. So why then, would he want compromise when he was all powerful? There was something else brewing here, the deaths in SHIELD's HQ made it look as if Hans was in two places at once, which was impossible… he could simply predict the attacks and they would happen. Unless, however there was someone _else_. Someone in the shadows who had access to all information and could relay it to Hans. _"Cooperation is key, isn't it, Miss Carson?"_

For the first time, it occurs to me that Hans could never be in two places at once… he was only one person.

But Hydra wasn't.

I walk to Fury's office with measured steps, everything I had hypothesised the night before running through my mind. I didn't wake James up, I had to confirm this with Fury before jumping to conclusions about Alexander Pierce.

"I know this is absurd… but I think it has something to do with Pierce." I say at the door  
" _What?_ " Fury looks rather unimpressed at this point at my outburst, to my dismay, Stark is there too. He snaps his book shut and sighs at me.  
"There are memories I can't remember, I know they're there. It's like they were wiped. There's this faceless person in my dreams, and all I can think about is how well Pierce fits into them. Please hear me out." I plead. When Fury nods I explain my suspicions from the last week.  
"So how exactly do you intend to test this theory of yours?" he raises his brow  
"Let me speak to him one on one… face to face."  
"Okay, now you're joking." Stark scoffs while Fury sighs in disappointment  
"I'm serious. If I'm wrong then he kills me. But if I'm right…"  
"You'll expose the double-agent." Fury presses the bridge of his nose.

I let myself sit down, making an effort to stay silent as Fury deliberates in his head.

"You get twenty minutes before I lock him back up." He starts, but I'm already making my way to the cell.


	69. PART II: Chapter 30 - Miscalculation

**30\. Miscalculation - Sophie**

"Let him out of the cell." I nod at the security personnel, who reluctantly unlock the cell and step aside. Keifer almost lazily looks up as the glass separates and casually saunters out.  
"What have you got up your sleeve, Carson?" He snickers, sickness bubbles at the pit of my stomach as I realise he was trying to mock Zachary Snyder's voice.  
"Who's the double agent?" I keep my tone even  
" _Double-agent?_ SHIELD's security is already a joke and you think I need help to breach it? You think so little of me." There it was, a slight pause in his gait, before he shrugs nonchalantly  
"I don't underestimate you. "  
"There's no one left to save, it's too late for you. Go ahead and attack me, after all I've killed so many of your loved ones… _so many_ " he purrs, tossing a serrated knife onto the counter beside me.

"You don't know her." James appears behind me, I notice Fury, Steve and Stark have arrived too.  
"Don't I? Whose shoulder do you think she was leaning on while you disappeared on your travels? "Who do you think has been in her life longer than you ever bothered to try? I am her undoing. I know her better than she knows herself. I've already won."  
"What is he talking about?" I cross my arms in confusion almost involuntarily  
"Go ahead," Hans whispers, "tell her to call her family, _James_." My blood runs cold as I turn back to face James who has a look of panic in his eyes. Someone's made a call from somewhere and the ringing tone sounds around us for several moments before someone answers.

"S-Soph-Love-Pl-ease- Sav-" _it's mum's voice._  
"Mum! What's happening?! Please stay on the line!" My pleas become more and more desperate and frantic. Everyone stands still as the buzz of the interference mingles with the voices on the other side of the line.

Static turns to silence as the phone signal goes dead.

"You see? I could have ruined you even without _his_ help! It doesn't matter how many weapons you get handed to you, you're too weak, you will always be weak." He shakes his head in disapproval before slapping me square across the face, the hit disoriented me and sent stars burring across my vision, James steps toward me but I move faster.

 _The devastation mixes with anger and the guilt turns into to realisation. It was enough, enough suffering, enough sitting like a duck while the people I loved were being taken from me._

 _This is enough. I can't take it any longer._

"You lack resolve. The guilt of killing would drive your little heart ins-" Keifer's smug words are interrupted by a mouthful of blood as the dagger in my hand drives its way into his heart. His eyes look up at me, for the first time they are filled with horror. I bring my lips to his ear.  
"You know what your problem is? You always assume that things will go to plan and that people won't change. You never plan for things to go wrong, you never consider what will happen if you make a miscalculation." I whisper as he gurgles, the blood in his throat threatening to choke him, "You gave away your master plan. Even you can't be in two places at once, but I know that Hydra can." I lay him onto the ground as he shakes in pain. "And even now, you're so deluded that you can't believe you were wrong about me, about all of us. You forget that you broke the little humanity and patience I had left and you forgot to protect yourself. You're not the only one that can kill. And I'm not above killing you. You were nothing great after all, your mind games and bullying weren't anything special, the only thing you shared with Schmidt was your inability to understand mortality." I twist my knife and his twitching eyelids widen in fear before they slacken, he throws something weakly behind me, I don't see where it lands. The life leaves his eyes as he splutters: "Hail Hydr-."

No one approaches me for what feels like hours, I can feel their eyes burning onto me, there was disbelief and horror around me. I knew that everyone was almost afraid to come near me, the gravity of what I had just done hadn't sunk in yet. A few moments later, Steve's cautious hand rests on my shoulder. I can sense that Steve is just as anxious as everyone else when he reaches to help me up. When I stand, I don't feel anything. There was no satisfaction in seeing Hans bleed out in front of me, there was only silence. No questions were answered, no relief followed, no sadness, no guilt, no joy. Just nothing.

"Now what are we going to do? You've managed to kill the hostage." Fury has a poker face on,  
"Who admitted to there being a mole in SHIELD! What was she supposed to do when he hit her? It could have been self-defence as far as she's concerned." Steve interjects

I stare at the ground from James' lap, I sit between his legs with my head nestled into the crook of his neck. We had all been here for hours, the whole of SHIELD was on lock-down. I stay still and numb as Fury's statement sparks an argument between everyone there but me. Steve argues for my pardon, while Stark and Fury remind them of the legal ramifications of my actions. James keeps his mask on the whole time, but his muffled breath agitates me. Eventually, the yelling match dies down and Steve tells me to go rest and that I'll be safe. I give him a nod of thanks before James and I stand to leave. Steve quickly tucks something into my hand and returns to Fury and Stark.

"Sophie, they tampered with the line. Your family is alive and safe. Fury and I had our suspicions about Pierce from the start, I didn't tell you and I should have." James says quietly after a long silence.  
"I think a part of me knew that they were safe. I panicked but I knew it had to seem like I truly gave up for him to drop his guard. As for Pierce, it was for the best you didn't tell me. The memories are coming back to me." I reply blankly though there was a small wave of relief through me, "Sometimes I scare myself at how well I can pretend, James. Steve thought I was defending myself but you and I both know I knew what I was doing. I killed someone today." I can't understand my own words,  
"You don't take risks anymore, that's why you seem cruel to _you_. You do things for a reason, whatever the outcome of this, I'm here with you. Don't pretend with me."  
"I can't." I let myself lean into him for a moment as we sit on the floor.

"What did he give you?" James asks finally, I open my hand to see the RgX staring back at me, the sight almost disgusts me.  
"Something that's past its expiry date." I get up and turn on the fire burner in the middle of the room, "Feels ironic to be doing this, all that went into this hateful contraption. It destroyed everything else so easily, and it can be destroyed so easily itself… It took so many lives and so much more. I should have known before that the world wasn't ready for this." I chuckle as I throw the locket anti-climactically into the flames. The fire spits and shakes, enveloping the gold locket and dissolving its chains into liquid metal. The months I had slaved over this trinket that had caused so much damage to the world were being sent off in billows of black smoke. I stared at the glowing flames until the locket was nothing more than fragments of indistinguishable gold. James carries me back to our bed as the glowing embers on the fireplace dim. Everything could be destroyed. Nothing was above the test of time. For the first time in a long time, I knew I had made the right decision.

 **PIERCE**

Sophie takes little notice of the blue remote thrown behind her, no one else does either… except… Fury's eye catches Pierce's who had started his way to Hans' trigger box, Keifer had deliberately thrown it in Pierce's direction. He stops moving immediately and grits his teeth. He stood a metre away from pressing the blue trigger button, a metre away from killing the ones _she_ loved, he was so close to getting the smallest ounce of revenge for the suffering that was coming his way and he stopped, afraid of pain like he always was.

Keifer's limp body lies on the deck floor while personnel rush over to inspect him and confirm his death. The boy had admitted to SHIELD having a mole. Alexander Pierce half expected him to spring to life and change the game while everyone thought it was finally over. Though he knew in his heart of hearts that there would be no game-changer, no second chance. That dead boy with a knife in his chest was the last hope for redemption, and he had failed. Hydra would come for him. This mission had failed. Hydra would go back into hiding, but not before punishing him. _That is, if he ever escaped Fury_. Anxiety spills through him as Fury nods to him as he approaches the upper level, and ushers him to accompany, Pierce nods back and follows, a characteristic limp holding him several unsure steps behind.


	70. PART II: Epilogue

**Epilogue**

I sift through the wall and into the room. Young Sophie rests in the arms of the Winter Soldier. The room takes on a grey hue while I offer myself a seat by the window.

"You came back." She sits up carefully  
"I've watched you this whole time, your kidnapping, your encounter with Schmidt, the bluff of the RgX and now the final climax between you and Hydra.?  
"Why did you only choose to show up now?"  
"I suppose it was my role in this all, to see what you could do. Though I am surprised. A healer such as yourself taking life."  
"Everyone's afraid of death, I never wanted blood on my hands but there wasn't any other way that would guarantee he wouldn't return. If I need to give up my title, then that's fine with me, I don't think I was cut out for it anyway." She stares on into the moonlight running her hands through James' hair. He slept blissfully unaware of our exchange.  
"You have great potential, even I can't predict what you'll do next. Will you make a deal with me?" I stand to leave, the grey-ness around us retracting into me.  
"You should know that I don't make deals with strangers. I was starting to think that you were a figment of my conscience, but I don't think that's it. Who are you?"  
"Oh, I'm no one. You could say I don't exactly fit in anywhere. Continue on, Sophie Carson, it's been quite sa journey." I tip my hat and let a wave of exhaustion wash over her, I dissolve into the air around me as she slips back into a deep sleep.

 _The girl was convinced it was her doing that had placed the world in jeopardy._

Though many years ago, she was unaware that her technology was indeed kept under lock and key, such that it would be impossible for even the Avengers to know of its existence. Luckily that one night five years ago, Alexander Pierce was _easily persuaded_ to hack into Fury's confidential documents and discover the one thing that sparked the war to seek immortality. Maybe I aided poor Keifer to _stumble_ upon an unearthly poison, and yet I warned Sophie who escaped without a hand. I suppose that was the problem with these mortals. They always wanted more, the mistrust between them was only a platform for me to begin Sophie Carson's long journey, though she cut my plans rather short with her unpredictability. I finally replace the grey façade around me with royal green. Textured gold horns sit atop my graphite hair as I melt into the night above me. Perhaps I played a supportive role this time around, Father would be _oh so_ proud. I chuckle.

 _I wonder what I'll meddle in next?_

 ** _A/N: Did you figure out the Grey man? What an awesome journey it's been writing Winter Hostage, it was my first fanfic and I can't believe how much support everyone's given it_** ** _:D_** **** ** _I know there were a bunch of long dry periods where I couldn't write and times when I was still learning how to structure things. I hope that you've enjoyed the story, I've loved the feedback and encouragement from you all, thank you, thank you, thank you! And yes I'm working on another story_** ** _:)_** **** ** _I'll wait till it's ready and you don't have to wait 93852 years before I update mwehehe_** ** _:)_** **** ** _out xx_**


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